Animals
by pmraptor98
Summary: 8 years. 8 years to the day, Caesar and the apes achieved their freedom in the redwood forests outside San Francisco. But as the new year dawns, something threatens Caesar and his clan, something the likes of which no Ape could ever have imagined.
1. New Year's

**Author's Notes  
**

**Hey everyone! Thank you for taking the time to look at this - the first piece I've ever published to this site. However, it is _hardly_ the first thing I've ever written. I would greatly appreciate any feedback. **

**Regarding the story, it takes place in between the events of _Rise _ and _Dawn. _However, without getting too spoilery, this story contains some genre elements not normally associated with Planet of the Apes. When people figure what those elements are, and if people find them a bit weird, I ask that you stick with the story just a little longer to see where I'm going. If at that point you still don't like it, that's fine, just please respect that this is the kind of story I want to tell. **

**Again, thanks for looking at it, and I hope you enjoy it!**

He was already awake, even before he opened his eyes. His mind eased out of sleep, and into a state of waking awareness, though his eyelids hadn't caught up yet. He took this moment of transition to savor the anticipation: today was the day.

He blinked a few times, slowly readying his green-flecked eyes to the new day. Smacking his dry lips, he sat up and turned his head to peer out at the farthest horizon. _Dawn_, he thought, scratching his neck with his left hand. The sun had only just peeked over the distant mountains, casting the first orange rays of morning on their veritable palace. As usual, a thick fog spread over the valleys, the steep hills rising over the surface. The song of the forest echoed around for miles; a joyous celebration of the coming morning.

Keeping his eyes out toward the rising sun, he let out a long, quiet breath from his nose, and then turned his gaze down toward the village square. No one was up yet – not surprising considering how early it was. Within a few hours, the square would be packed to the brim, but for now he relaxed his body and drank in the fleeting moment of peace. A vague smile spread over his muzzle, his eyes at their softest.

He felt a slight disturbance to his right and looked to see his wife stirring from her own sleep. Her eyes opened to reveal a green hue very much like his, though they were much kinder, and far less weary. She put up her hands and weakly signed to him. "Caesar?"

He grunted very quietly, stroking her face with his right hand, feeling the black hair running down the side of her cheeks. He signed to her, "I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

She gently shook her head and signed, "No. Can't sleep very well."

"Excited for today?" he signed, sitting up a bit more.

"Of course!" she signed, letting out a low whimper as she reached behind his ear with her right hand, pulling his head down until their foreheads met with the gentlest touch.

When their affectionate gesture was over, Caesar got up and balanced himself on his hind legs, his opposable toes gripping the hard wooden floor of their tower. He looked around, seeing if there was any indication that Blue Eyes had awakened. But then he very quickly snorted with amusement, thinking _he loves to sleep in these days_.

As Caesar descended the spiraling staircase around the trunk of the tree, slightly bow-legged, he briefly stuck his head in on the lower level to see if Blue Eyes was still there. Just as he suspected, Blue Eyes was still very deep in sleep, his body all spread out on the floor. Caesar stayed there, admiring the peaceful 'teenager' as he slept. He couldn't remember the last time he saw his only son this relaxed. A part of Caesar almost dreaded the moment when those two, strangely-blue eyes would open up, and he would return to his normal, reckless self. Caesar knew these moments were nearly at an end.

When he continued on his way down to the village square, the sun had already risen even more, bathing the ape village in a warm, orange glow. Stepping out on to the rocky overlook, Caesar surveyed his surroundings. Everything glistened in the new rays of the dawn, reminding him of the light rainfall they had during the night. The rocks, dirt, and trees all had a distinct damp odor to them. In the center of the square was a great rock platform, an insignia carved into its very surface – a circle with four curved lines running to four points along the edges. He looked past that to a rock wall, various symbols drawn onto it. In addition to the symbols, there were three phrases written in the human's spoken language emblazoned on the gray stone, relaying their three most-cherished beliefs.

Ape not kill ape.

Apes together strong.

Knowledge is power.

With the angelic aura of the morning still radiating through the whole ape village, a picture was painted – one of a fledgling, idyllic society. Caesar stood tall over the quiet, slumbering ape village, a warm sense of pride coursing through his entire body.

It wasn't until the sun had truly risen that the first signs of activity started to appear in the midst of the village. It started with the typical morning chorus – the orangutans signaling to each other that the day was ready to start. Chimpanzees and bonobos started to come out of their huts and amble sleepily to the communal pond for a drink. Gorillas wouldn't emerge until they had eaten a big, hearty breakfast of leafy greens. But soon enough, all of the four ape species were ready to start their day, Caesar watching proudly as they did.

As Caesar went down for a drink himself, he bid good morning to many of the other Apes, all of them giving him plenty of room to drink his fill. He grabbed a bowl and filled it up, preparing to gulp down a nice cool sip when he caught sight of someone out of the corner of his eye. A bulky male chimpanzee, dull grey and balding all over his body, was knuckle-walking over to the pool. Upon seeing him, Caesar put the bowl down and signed to him. "Rocket!"

"Caesar!" the other chimp signed, crouching down and bowing low, holding out his right hand palm up.

Caesar casually stroked the open palm with his own, pulling Rocket close to him in a wide hug. When they were finished, Caesar signed, "No need, Rocket!" and he picked up the water bowl, offering it to his trusted friend.

Rocket signed. "Thanks," before grabbing the bowl and taking a long, deep refreshing drink. Once he was finished, he filled the bowl again and handed it back to Caesar. "Today is the day!" Rocket signed. "8 years!"

Caesar sighed before taking a drink and signing, "I have trouble believing it. We've come so far," he said, looking out again into the waking ape village.

"Could never have done it without you," Rocket signed.

Caesar nodded his appreciation to Rocket. "Are you coming to the class today?"

Rocket nodded, signing, "Oh yes. Maurice gave me no choice!" And the two chimpanzees panted through O-shaped lips to show their amusement. "You've seen Koba?"

Caesar shook his head. "Not yet. You?"

Rocket shook his head too. He looked into the crowd of apes going about their daily businesses. When he caught sight of a rather haggard-looking chimpanzee with unkempt, dull brown hair, he bounded over to him and signed. "Gray, where's Koba?"

Gray gave Rocket only a passing glance as he quickly answered, "Went hunting, alone."

When Rocket went back to Caesar and relayed the news, Caesar grunted, shaking his head, his brow ridges hanging low over his eyes. "Better not be stealing from humans again,"

"Has not done so in a long time," Rocket pointed out to Caesar.

Caesar took a moment before answering, "True. We shall see when he gets back. How's Ash?"

Rocket snorted and shook his head, signing, "He is trouble. Comes home late at night, sleeps long into the day. Doesn't listen to us."

Caesar answered his snort and signed, "Blue Eyes is the same way."

Rocket pant hooted three times, putting his finger on Caesar's shoulder. "That is because he is like his father."

Caesar pant hooted as well, signing, "Human prison would never hold him."

Their conversation was interrupted by the appearance of a large male Bornean orangutan. His lanky limbs and pot belly were all covered in thick mats of long, orange hair. The pair of flaps flaring out from his cheeks and the fat throat sack hanging under his chin gave him a very regal presence among the _Pongo_. "Good morning," he signed with very fine hands. The two chimpanzees returned his greeting, and he continued. "Ready for today's lesson?" They both nodded, and he signed, "Come."

Maurice's arboreal preference made him very awkward when on the ground. He reached out far ahead of him with his longs arms, alternating as he led Caesar and Rocket up toward the class area. In the shadow of Caesar's incredible tree fort, the great rock wall stood tall, emblazoned with the three sacred laws. It was from here that Maurice would gather the young from all the ape species and spread their fledgling wisdom to the coming generation.

The students all started to gather not too long after Caesar, Rocket, and Maurice had placed themselves up against the wall. However, in addition to just the young ones, the adult apes also gathered together at the back of the audience. They all waited, making sure that even the laziest stragglers had time to show up. The children passed the time by playing with each other, telling jokes and playfully wresting with one another. The parents on the other hand were all conversing with each other, apparently pleased that they had all gotten the day off for this momentous occasion.

The last two to show up for the class were Blue Eyes and Ash, who were teasing each other as was their norm, hanging out at the back of the crowd, with no desire whatsoever to stand in their fathers' shadows.

Finally the time came for the lesson to start. Caesar simply raised his hand, and the entire crowd instantly became silent, their attention focused entirely on their leader. He then nodded to Maurice, who took the cue to start. "Good morning to all of you! And I wish you all a Happy New Year!" Maurice's sentiments were echoed by a flurry of signing as well as some sharp, hulking grunts. "Today marks the ending of the past year, and the start of the next – the 9th since our freedom from the humans.

"Since long before any one of us can remember, humans had always treated us as less than them. They took us from our homes, killed our families, and sent us to far away places to live in torment. We would be locked up in cages for them to stare at and degrade. We would be made to perform for them, putting on perverted displays of human behavior. And worst of all, we would be tortured in their laboratories." As he signed, all the adults stayed perfectly quiet, wrestling with vivid memories of their former lives as their former selves. The younger apes looked on with wonder and fear, only being able to imagine the very real terror most of their parents had to face at some time or another.

"But those days are past!" Maurice continued. "We have lived without the plight of humans for 8 years now. 8 years on this very day. We owe all that we have now – our families, our homes, our whole way of life – to one ape." And Maurice stepped aside, allowing Caesar to take center stage. There was much whooping and hollering from all the apes, young and old as Caesar approached the stand.

After allowing them their opportunity to show their support, he held up his hands, and silence fell once again. "I thank you all for your support. But never forget that the actions of one Ape are nothing compared to the might of many. Remember the second law."

And the whole audience signed all at once, "Apes together, strong."

Caesar nodded. "I was born and raised among humans. It was 8 years before I truly learned what it means to be Ape. To be Ape means to know the suffering of humans. To be Ape means to know love for your fellow Ape. To be Ape means to stand up and cast off the chains, to break free from the cages, and build a better life!" There was a lot of energetic shrieking and grunting. Once again, Caesar allowed them a moment to express themselves before going on. "But on this day of celebration, let us not forget the many Apes who fell so that we may build that better life here," Caesar signed, a hesitation in his hands as his heart felt a sting of sadness. "As long as we remember their sacrifice, and strive to reach the ideal they created for us, then our growing Ape family will forever be strong and prosperous!"

While the other apes cheered even more, Blue-Eyes shook his head with a quick snort. Ash grinned at his friend's insolent attitude.

The ceremony continued with Caesar recounting his life growing up with his adopted human 'father,' a scientist named Will Rodman. It was Rodman who created the virus that gave Caesar his increased intelligence. It wasn't something the apes liked to talk about much, but they truly had been animals before that. They were far from the dumbest beasts on the planet; indeed, their intelligence wasn't too far from that of the humans who subjugated them. But it was still nothing compared to what they would become.

Eventually, Caesar found himself locked away, surrounded by other apes for the first time. When Caesar finally realized what he was – or rather, what he wasn't – he knew that something had to be done. He broke out of the prison where he was being kept and stole samples of the very virus that had granted him his increased intelligence. He used it to raise the awareness of the other apes, brining them to his level. Once they were fully aware of the horrors placed up on them by the humans, they were more than ready to fight back.

Caesar's plan was to lead the apes through the human city, across a Great Bridge of Gold, to the towering redwood forests on the other side. But the human forces – the men in blue - had set up a barrier in their way. From behind the apes, men riding horses tried to beat them into submission with clubs. And from ahead, more humans fired at them with their preferred instrument of Ape-murder – the gun.

But where the humans had their weapons, the apes had far greater advantages: stealth, strength, and strategy. Maurice had led the orangutans – the Ape masters of trees – as they clambered down to the underside of the bridge and swung by the steel girders. The powerful gorillas, led by one of their closest fallen comrades, plowed forward, turning over a bus and using it as a shield between them and the guns. Koba, who still hadn't returned from hunting, had led some of the chimpanzees up along the bridge cables and across the suspenders. Lastly, Rocket and Caesar – who had managed to take one of the humans' horses as his own – led the charge on the ground. The Apes attacked all at once, catching the humans completely off guard. They came from in front, below, and above, destroying the guns and rendering the humans utterly defenseless. With their superior strength and unbreakable will, the Apes successfully managed to break through the human blockade and escape to the forests.

But the fight wasn't over just yet. The humans continued to track them in the forest for a few weeks after their breakout. Fortunately, the humans' arrogance had been the Apes' best friend. The human's were unable to fathom how mere apes could be so calculating and resourceful, even as they intentionally led the humans away from where they were staying. It reached the point where the humans were willing to drown the whole forest in fire just to wipe out the Apes once and for all. Fortunately, the Apes had managed to reach deeper into the forest than the humans had thought, once more blinded by their inability to recognize the strength of the Apes.

After the first few weeks, they generally weren't troubled by humans again. They did encounter a stray hunter or camp group on occasion, but they either managed to keep out of sight, or drive the humans away. But they never attracted major attention again. Even when they raided human food stores during their first few years, the humans were always busy, seemingly fighting amongst each other for some reason.

The next few years saw the balance of power start to turn. The Apes finally found a nice, secluded part of the forest to build their new home. They would look out across the treetops, to the lights shining from the human city. Even from far away, they could hear the sound of wailing sirens and explosive gun fire sounding out for miles around. This continued for a few years, before an eerie silence fell over the city and the last lights flickered out of existence. Ever since then, their human sightings became fewer and far between. The last one was more than 9 months ago.

But as the humans faded away, the apes thrived. The longer they stayed there, the more they learned about their environment. They no longer needed to raid human stores for fruit and vegetables. Whatever they couldn't cultivate, they made up for with foraging. An increase in brain size went hand in hand with a greater need for animal protein, and so the Apes learned to hunt and fish. With all this food, they found more time to relax, to make things, and to refine their settlement. The seed of their civilization had been planted.

After Caesar relayed the tale from his point of view, Rocket took over. As he explained in vivid detail the story of their liberation, the young ones were absolutely captivated. They were so taken that they couldn't even blink. When Rocket showed how he dodged a bullet and rammed a human right through his own car, they let out little screeches of excitement. The smallest ones, most of whom had never even seen a human before, asked what they looked like. Rocket stood up as straight as he could, and moved very stiffly as he gave off weird facial expressions, signing, "Like this."

After Maurice talked about his own experiences on that day, Caesar opened up the floor to the other adult apes. Having all been there on the bridge, they all brought a different take on things. The only thing their stories had in common was that they were thrilling.

But not all the stories were about exhilarating adventure. There was also the bitterness of loss to consider. The gorillas in particular signed solemnly and reverently of Buck, the silverback who rallied the gorillas to Caesar's cause. Caesar had shown kindness to Buck when he was all alone, instantly winning his loyalty. Buck would do anything for Caesar, a pledge he followed to his death. When humans in a flying machine opened fire on Caesar, Buck threw him out of the way, leaping onto the machine and killing the gunman, as well as the pilot. The resulting crash was more than enough to do the old ape in. Since then, another male called Stone had taken over as the leader of the gorillas.

Suddenly, the stories were cut short by the sound of hooves galloping powerfully over the wet soil as a dark brown horse dashed through the arch leading to the village square. On its back was a dull black, male bonobo. The jagged scar running down his milky left eye was just one of the many mutilations covering his well-worn body. There was definitely no mistaking Koba. He carried something in his lap, its body dangling limply over the horse's back.

Koba's arrival was met with excited hollering and cheering from the other apes, though Caesar was not among them. Caesar gave a short snort as Koba got down from his horse, hand held high in the air, accepting their praise. As he carried the body of his fresh kill up toward the front of the class, many apes went up to him, signing him a Happy New Year. He happily returned their signs.

When Koba got closer, Caesar signed to him. "You're late."

Koba looked down and signed, "Sorry, Caesar. Was out hunting. Lost track of time." He offered his prey, a freshly slaughtered white lamb to Caesar. "For you. For the New Year."

Caesar's initial reaction was a worried shake of his head, followed by a low grunt. He signed, "You stole this from the humans?"

Koba looked away for a split second before signing, "Not…really."

Caesar bared his long canine teeth and signed. "Only humans keep lambs. This came from humans."

Koba signed slowly, "Yes, but…there were no humans at the house…"

This didn't placate Caesar who signed again, "How do you know? Did you go into their home?" He wish he could put such a reckless action past Koba.

Koba paused before signing, "I smelled something….something rotten inside the house. I peeked in the window and saw a man. He was lying on the floor, dead."

Caesar relaxed his expression slightly, growing less tense throughout his body. He trusted Koba, this time at any rate. Despite his own negative experiences, as well as the tales of his fellow Apes, Caesar didn't harbor much resentment toward humans. He couldn't escape the role they played in his development. "How? Sick, bloody face?"

Koba shook his head and said, "No. Throat was torn out. Door smashed open. Windows broken. Something killed him."

Caesar's anger with Koba was now completely replaced by fear. It wasn't uncommon for them to see dead humans. Ever since their escape, the humans they did run into often times showed signs of a bad sickness. They would cough up blood. But this was something else. "Do you know what did it?"

Again, Koba shook his head. "Bear, wolf, mountain lion," and he shrugged.

Over the last five years or so, Caesar and the others had noticed an increase in the number of large predators in the forest. He couldn't help but feel this was connected to the decreasing number of humans, although he'd never encountered one so vicious that it actually broke into a human home. It was extremely unnerving.

Caesar let out a deep long sigh, finally gazing at Koba with kinder eyes. "Very well. I will tell Apes to be on the look out when we go out."

Koba knelt down and presented the open palm of his right hand to Caesar. "Forgive my misdeeds," he signed.

Caesar graced Koba's hand with his own, pulling him up close. "It's alright Koba. No harm done," and he picked up the lamb. "Will be good for the feast."

It was at that point that Blue Eyes and Ash bounded up on all fours to Koba and Caesar. They were both very pleased to see the veteran bonobo, much more so than their fathers at any rate. "Uncle Koba!" Blue Eyes signed enthusiastically. "Why are you late?"

Koba reached out and put a hand on Blue Eyes' shoulder and signed, "Sorry kid. Was out hunting, lost track of time."

"What did you get?" Ash asked.

Koba pointed to the lamb still in Caesar's hand. "Have you tasted lamb?" Both adolescent apes shook their heads. Koba grinned with long teeth and said, "Lamb is good. You will like it."

"We missed your story," Blue Eyes signed.

Koba waved off the complaint and signed, "I will tell it at the feast."

"Yours is the best!" Ash signed. "Show's how scary humans really are!"

Caesar grimaced at Ash's comments. Koba's stories were the best because they were the scariest. They were graphic and horrifically detailed as Koba relayed the obscene things done to him by human scientists. But even more disturbing to Caesar was the sheer relish that Koba had over his descriptions of killing humans. All throughout their breakout, Caesar had tried to minimize the loss of both Ape and human life. If the Apes had to be violent, then so be it, but that wasn't their goal. Koba on the other hand seemed to positively delight in violence toward humans. It just wasn't an idea that Caesar thought was good for the developing village.

Koba nodded to Ash and signed, "That's right Ash. Humans are very scary. Be glad they're gone now. But if you ever do see one, kill it – or they'll do worse to you!" and he pretended to seize Ash by the back of the neck. Both he and Blue Eyes leapt back at the jump scare before hooting their laughter.

Caesar stepped in at this point and signed, "We should get ready for the feast."

Surly Blue Eyes scowled at his father, seemingly for simply existing. But Koba looked joyful and signed, "Yes, good! I'm starving!"

The Apes were still fairly new at cooking, but they had gotten quite good. The majority of the apes in the city were either chimpanzees or bonobos, so there was need for a fair amount of meat. It was mostly fish, deer, and rabbit, with Koba's lamb specially picked for Caesar. The gorillas stuck mainly to grasses, leafy greens, and roots, while the orangutans mostly gorged on fresh fruit. Most of it was foraged from the local flora, though they did still have some leftover from the raids. The durian was particularly popular with Maurice and his kin.

Even with 2000 Apes in the village there was more than enough food to go around. All the meat was cooked on a giant bonfire roaring at the very heart of the village square. Smaller fires were burning all around it with small, tightly-knit groups of Apes all clustered around. As the Apes gorged themselves on their well-wrought harvest, they told stories and jokes, their hearts growing as content as their stomachs. Ash got into a contest with Blue Eyes over who could eat the most durian without retching. Ash won, but only made it to 5. After that, Caesar wondered aloud if either Blue Eyes or Ash had found any females that they might have taken a liking to. Blue Eyes shoved a durian into his father's face at that, which his father took with the best of spirits.

There wasn't any noise besides the burning wood and the vocalizing Apes. Music wouldn't have been out of place at all amongst all the celebration, but it had yet to be incorporated into Ape culture.

After the third course of feasting, Koba decided to gather all the teenage Apes and tell them his horror stories. Every scar on his body was the basis for a different tale, each one involving the horrible deeds committed by one faceless human after another. Koba's portrait of humanity was the least flattering of all the Apes'. To him, they were ugly things, who reveled in violence for violence's sake, and consumed by irrational hatred. They were guided by anger more than anything, and delighted in the suffering of each other as well as the Apes. It was a portrait that was all the more ironic being painted by Koba.

Toward the end, when Koba was getting them all riled up, Caesar put up a hand and signed, "Enough Koba."

The teens were more upset by Caesar's interruption than Koba himself. Blue Eyes stood up and signed, "Father! Please, no!"

Caesar signed more forcefully to his son, "Enough!" This was enough to calm most of them, though Blue Eyes remained defiant. Then he turned to Koba and signed, "You're scaring them."

Blue Eyes stood up tall and signed, "I'm not afraid!" There were many answering grunts in agreement. "Besides, it doesn't matter! Humans are gone!"

"Only as far as we know," Caesar cautioned.

"No matter! I'm still not afraid!" Blue Eyes continued.

"You should be scared of them a little," Koba signed as well. "Humans are very dangerous."

Caesar stood up as well and signed, "That's enough. All of you, go"

Blue Eyes looked at his father and signed, "But Father-,"

"Go!" Caesar spoke.

Caesar spoke.

Aloud.

The other teen Apes bolted off toward somewhere, anywhere, else in the village. Even Blue Eyes lowered his eyes and got down on all fours, skulking away back toward the tree tower.

When they were gone, Koba looked back at Caesar, kneeling down once more. But before he could put his hand up, Caesar waved him off, signing, "No Koba. It's alright." Koba stood back up, still looking sorry toward his leader. "Not your fault. I just….I worry. I worry about the young ones. About my son."

Koba reached out a warm, firm hand on Caesar's shoulder and signed. "You do not need to worry. Blue Eyes is young, but he is strong. One day, he may even be as strong as his father."

Caesar gave Koba a kindly look as he reached up and placed his hand over Koba's. After pausing, he signed, "Thank you, Koba. I can only hope that you are right."

The festivities continued well into the night. Even when the bonfires had faded to mere scorching embers, there was no shortage of light, supplied by the full moon shining down on the village square. Many of the Apes had returned to the huts for sleeping, though many still remained. Even then, things had quieted down significantly. Caesar was sitting over the symbol carved into the stone as his wife, Cornelia, groomed his fur. Rocket was grooming his wife as well, rummaging through her hair and picking out any stray insects. Though the insects did provide tasty snacks, the purpose of the grooming was strictly social – an opportunity to get close to another Ape.

After the rousing celebrations of New Year's Day, Caesar savored the quiet of the night, the warm touch of Cornelia's fingers against this skin.

"Fun night!" Cornelia signed to Caesar.

Caesar nodded and signed, "A wonderful day. A wonderful year."

"You should be proud; proud of all this," she signed, waving her hand around to show the whole village.

Caesar shook his head and signed, "I may be the leader. But a head with no body is no use. Apes together strong."

"Apes together strong," she replied. "I know. But no Ape could lead like you."

He took one of her hands in his and signed with other, "I love you so much. You and our son. And the whole village!"

She grinned and signed back to him, "That is why you are such a good leader. You have so much love. You want a better life for us all!"

He leaned against her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and bringing her in close, their faces touching. Turning his head back, he caught a glimpse across the village square and saw Koba sitting next to a female bonobo. It was hard to tell from this far away, but it seemed obvious that he was trying to initiate grooming with her. It was also obvious that she wasn't interested. Eventually, she just got up and left him. He did not seem at all happy.

"Poor Koba," he signed, Cornelia turning to look at the lone Ape.

"What?" she asked him

"He still has no mate," Caesar signed.

Cornelia let out a quiet sigh and signed, "Koba sometimes scares the females. He is hard to get close to."

"The scars?" Caesar signed, tracing the lines of Koba's scars on his body.

Cornelia tilted her head and signed, "That's a part. But there's more."

Caesar looked confused. He signed to her, "But he is a good Ape."

Cornelia nodded. "He is a good hunter, good forager. He is very strong. And we might not be here without him, but…." And she hesitated.

"But..?" Caesar signed.

Eventually she found the words for it. "Koba learned hatred from the humans. But I don't think he ever learned love."

It pained Caesar to see her sign that, mostly because he knew it was absolutely true. Koba was many things – strong, smart, resourceful – but he had never really shown any signs of compassion or empathy. He was a passionate defender of the Apes, and he knew something of loyalty. But love was lost on him.

At that point, Cornelia touched his shoulder and signed, "Well, at least someone is successful with the females," and she pointed to another, darker corner of the village square. There, Caesar made out the vague outline of Blue Eyes, who was apparently deep in the process of grooming a female about his age.

Caesar's eyes lit up and he pant hooted just a little bit at the sight. "She's pretty," he signed to his wife.

Cornelia reached around his back with her hands and signed, "Is that so?" pretending to be jealous, "You think she's prettier than me?" and she grasped at Caesar's belly, wriggling her finger tips all along the skin, causing Caesar to pant in uncontrollable laughter. Cornelia was also laughing as the turned Caesar over on his back and tickled more fiercely. He waved his arms and legs all about, but she wasn't deterred. "Well, is she prettier?" she signed with one hand, continuing her assault with the other.

Only when Caesar was finally able to sign, "No!" did she stop.

Caesar laid there on his back, panting for fresh air as his wife stood over him. She signed to him, "Good," before reaching down and touching his lips.

After regaining his breathe, Caesar got up and stood in a quadrupedal pose. Then he stood up tall on two legs and signed to his wife. "Now, there is one last thing we must do today."

"The grave?" Cornelia signed knowingly. Caesar nodded. "Okay, but we should take weapons with us. Koba told me that something killed a human. Broke into the house and tore his throat out," she signed with a serious expression on her face.

Caesar nodded and signed, "You're right, good idea." He took her head in his hands and pressed their two skulls together. They quickly stopped by the Tree Fort to grab a pair of spears before making their way toward the stables. At this point, the fires had almost completely died down, leaving no other light besides the few candles flickering outside the huts and the glow of the moon. They moved as quietly as they could, making sure to avoid detection at all costs. Unlike everything else done on New Year's Day, this last ceremony was private, restricted to only a select few. Fortunately, evading attention was easy since pretty much every Ape was already fast asleep.

Caesar and Cornelia approached the stable doors and slowly pulled them open, wincing at the creaking wood. They both jumped at the sudden sight of two Apes within, but their fear eased instantly.

"Finally!" Rocket signed, harnessing a lean black stallion by the muzzle. "We were getting ready to leave without you." Next to him, Maurice sat on his steed, gripping the reins in his nimble fingers.

"Sorry," Cornelia signed to bald chimp. "We were…distracted."

Maurice let out a low, long growl and signed, "Just one reason why I never married." Cornelia blew a raspberry at the old orang. Caesar and Cornelia both found their horses, who only reluctantly allowed themselves to be woken. Once their initial grogginess had worn off, they allowed themselves to be harnessed and mounted. When all four were ready, they rode off out of the stable and out the back passage to the village.

They traveled South down one of the paths they'd forged through the underbrush. The moonlight made traveling all the easier as they rode downhill toward the river from where they fished. They turned right at the riverbank and kept straight for about another half mile. They bid their horses stop at that point, and they all dismounted in front of a large slab of rock.

The rock was covered in white pictorials recounting the day the Apes broke free from their human captors and made it to their own promised land. All along the edges of the rock were the symbols belonging to all the Ape shot down that day. And in the center, the biggest space of all was dedicated to Buck – the unyielding silverback who gave his own life for all the lives made in the last 8 years.

Caesar, Cornelia, Rocket, and Maurice all stood in a line in front of the rock and bowed their heads. Caesar was the first to begin. "Buck," he signed, "You may truly have been the best of all Apes. Yours was the ultimate test of loyalty, one I hope no Ape will ever have to take again."

After a brief pause, Maurice picked up. "I first saw Buck, all locked up in his single cage, when I was first brought to the Ape prison nearly 20 years ago. I'll never forget how sad and lonely you were, cut off from the rest of us. Not a day passed when I didn't feel a sting of pain in my heart for you, and I still have nightmares about your tortured cries for help.

"Freedom was sweeter to Buck than to any of us. But somehow, he loved all of us more than he did his new, free life. I really don't know how to put such devotion into words," Maurice finished, his face seeming to sag even more than it usually did.

Next up was Rocket. "I was always afraid of Buck during my time at the prison. I was never brave enough to approach him. I only feel bad now that I never got the chance to know him better. Maybe I would have seen more of his greatness."

Finally, Cornelia. "I remember the day that Buck was first brought to the prison. I can still see the look on his face. His eyes were hard. He always tried to look tough, but I think he was always desperately sad inside. I think…I don't think he'd ever seen the sun until the day we broke free."

They took another prolonged silence as the bowed their heads and gave all their thoughts to Buck. The silence was actually quite deafening to them, as it was pronounced by the lack of any other noises – no singing frogs, no chirping birds, not even crickets in the undergrowth.

Finally, Caesar took a deep breath and signed, "This is the hardest part of every New Year's Day." All the other Apes nodded.

"But it wouldn't be New Year's without it," Cornelia answered him.

"I just wish Buck could see the new life we have made here," Rocket signed with a frustrated grunt.

"In the end, it's enough to know that his death was not meaningless," Caesar signed.

"And to know that no Ape will ever have to make that sacrifice again," Maurice added.

Their commemoration was brashly interrupted by the sudden, frantic whinnying of all their horses. They all spun around to see the horses stamping their hooves into the wet soil, kicking up pounds of mud all around them. The Apes all dashed over and held the horses by the reins, even as they resisted with fierce pulls of their necks. The frightened cries of the horses was joined by the frantic hoots of the apes, trying to calm their steeds even as their resistance became more crazed.

A snapping twig from somewhere behind them caused Rocket to turn around, easing his grip just enough for his horse to break free and sprint off back toward the village. The event proved contagious as the other Apes also weakened their grips for just long enough for the horses to escape. All of them headed back toward their home, forgetting the paths altogether and cutting through the dense redwood forest.

"What scared them?" Cornelia asked, hooting in confused voice.

"Wait," Rocket signed for all them, "Quiet….something out there." Rockets signs caused all of them to stand perfectly still, letting the silence fill them. They slowly craned their necks to take in as much of the scene around them as possible. Unfortunately, the forest was shrouded in the shadows of the towering redwoods, standing tall against the beams of moonlight shining down from the midnight sky. The Apes' night vision was far from ideal, and so they strained their eyes to take in as much light as they could. Both Caesar and Cornelia gripped their spears in their hands with vice-like grips bound by fear. The scene around them was deathly still, without even the weakest breeze to blow against the surrounding ferns. They all held their breaths to preserve the perfect silence all around them. Through the pervading blackness, Rocket though he squinted something.

Two yellow specks.

Two yellow specks that shined like fireflies – before they exploded out of the darkness, flying towards the Apes with lightning speed. A huge form, black as the shadows from which it came, sprang forward with a ferocious growl. Rocket instantly rolled to the left, leaving Caesar directly in the path of the attacker. Before Caesar had any idea what was heading toward him, it had already crashed into him. They both rolled a few feet forward in the dirt, not stopping until the assailant had Caesar pinned beneath four clawed, padded paws. All of the thoughts that Caesar might have had in that situation were drowned out in a fit of agonizing pain that filled his entire body as a set of gruesome fangs bored into his chest, right over his arrow-shaped birthmark. Caesar let out a terrible shriek as his black fur was stained red with each chomp of the creature's savage jaws. Its hold on Caesar seemed unbreakable as it shook him back and forth, doing as much damage as it could with its toothy arsenal.

Release came with a high-pitched whimper from the beast as Caesar felt the weight lifted from his body. Still on his back, Caesar watched as the creature's form was lifted off of him, a spear sticking all the way through its side. Rocket was holding the spear, and with a loud, guttural grunt, he hauled the creature over his head and tossed it against a nearby tree. Blood dripped from the wound onto Rocket's face as it passed over him.

The next thing Caesar new was Cornelia rushing over to him, panting and hooting in alarm as she pulled him close to her. Both of them placed their hands over the gaping wound in Caesar's chest, desperate to stop the blood pouring out and pooling all around them. Cornelia turned her attention to the impaled predator, flashing her teeth and holding her spear tightly in hand. Rocket and Maurice also came to their side, making sure their long canines were perfectly visible.

A stray beam of moonlight revealed their attacker. It was a wolf, an absolutely huge wolf with long fur colored a deep black. It lay, breathing haggardly through painful wheezes. The spear was sticking straight through its left side and out the right. Even as it winced with every tortured breath, it still kept a furious stare at all four of the apes, its lips curled back to reveal each one of its hideous, blood-stained fangs. Its ears were flared backwards and it growled at them with every ounce of ferocity that it had. It tried to get to its feet, only to collapse back onto its belly with a low whimper.

Still reeling from the attack, Caesar mustered all of this strength to lift his hands up and sign, "Up."

Maurice nodded and gently hoisted Caesar over his shoulder. Making sure to keep Caesar as still as possible, Maurice brought him over to a tree, reached up to grab the bark, and hoisted them straight up the trunk. Rocket followed next, with Cornelia picking up the back, keeping her spear pointed directly at the fallen wolf.

The four apes traveled through the treetops, making a direct line for the village. Caesar felt sick as he was carried limply over Maurice's shoulder, the scene around him starting blend together into a black haze. He heavily debated the necessity of keeping his eyes open. Eventually, his exhaustion won out, and the last things he saw before succumbing to his wounds were the two glowing yellow eyes of the wolf, two specks shrinking into the night.


	2. The Wolf and the Wound

Cornelia kept her focus entirely on Caesar, even as he slipped into unconsciousness. She almost blindly leaped from branch to branch, numb to all else going on around her. As she saw Caesar's eyes close, she let out more distressed hoots. This only served to stress the anxiety of Maurice and Rocket, both trying to stay as calm as they could knowing that their savior could perish at any moment. Rocket tried to stay as stony faced as possible, though his labored panting betrayed his unease. Maurice was as stoic as ever, but just one glance of those heavy eyes would have filled the coldest heart with a deep sorrow.

The trek back to the village seemed near endless. None of them feared for their own safety: the trees had always been places of refuge for them. What they were all afraid of most was the uncertainty of Caesar's survival. The open wound still gushing blood from his chest was horrific to see. They couldn't imagine the suffering he must have endured in the attack - a fact they were more than happy with. But they all pressed on, knowing that if they let the fear and sorrow of the situation overtake them, then Caesar's life was truly forfeit.

As the village came within sight, there wasn't a single flicker of flame left, and was lit entirely with bright beams from the full moon. Rocket let out loud, distressed hoots as they approached, Cornelia joining him as they got closer. One by one, the other Apes all started to emerge from their huts. Ordinarily, they might still be sleepy, but the alarm that rang through from Cornelia and Rocket's calls put them all on full alert.

When they finally reached the village outskirts, the four apes descended from the trees, Maurice being as gentle with his landing as he could. Apes immediately surrounded them from all sides, but Rocket kept them at a distance with shows of intimidation, swinging his arms back and forth, and baring his canines with each echoing shriek. He made sure a clear path was kept for Caesar to get to his home.

Stone, the leader of the gorillas, came forth and signed, "What's wrong?"

Cornelia answered him, "Caesar was attacked!" Her signs sent all the Apes who saw it into a frenzy, hollering and ensuring that no Ape slept well that night.

Maurice turned to Stone and signed, "You must take him to his home. You're faster on the ground than me."

Stone nodded, and carefully took Caesar's limb, bloody body from Maurice. With Caesar safely positioned over his shoulder, Stone galloped off toward the towering tree fort in the center of the village.

The three remaining Apes were assaulted by a barrage of signing from the gathering crowd, all curious to know what happened. Finally, Rocket stood up and once again asserted himself, quieting them down with swinging arms and cacophonic screaming. When all the others had finally settled down, Rocket signed to them all, "Will explain later! Now, we must help Caesar!" and he and Cornelia ran through the crowd back toward the tree fort. Maurice followed them as best as his awkward gait could carry him.

Stone arrived to Caesar's home with a few minutes, bringing him up the spiraling stair case to the top floor. When Blue Eyes saw Stone pass his room on his way, he followed. Stone lay Caesar down on his bed of soft leaves face up. When he saw the bloody hole on Caesar's chest, he jumped back with a few low grunts.

Blue Eyes arrived just seconds later and frantically signed, "What happened?"

Stone turned to the son and signed slowly, "Do not know. He and the others just came back, and he was like this."

With none of his concerns being fully addressed, all Blue Eyes could do was pace back and forth, whimpering softly with unease. Stone looked at the anxious teenager, unsure of what to do. He had his own fatherly instincts, a drive to protect his own from any who might threaten them. But even as his instincts told him to reach out his hand to bring some comfort to Blue Eyes, another part of him claimed there was nothing he could do. So he just sat as still and stony as possible, attempting to bring some kind of grounding the situation.

Outside the tree house, Apes of all species were gathering in high numbers, hooting and shrieking their own confusion up toward the three of them on the top floor. This did nothing to alleviate Blue Eye's distress, and only caused him to pace harder and faster, snorting and grunting and whimpering the whole way through.

He and Stone were startled by the arrival of Cornelia, who rushed into the room to the scene of her husband laying almost lifelessly on their bed. The whimpers came back to her, but this time she could share them with her only child. Blue Eyes quickly went over to Cornelia and hugged her tightly and closely, resting his chin on her shoulder even as the force of his hug sent her back a few steps. Stone let out a small sigh as the mother and son were reunited, even if only in their grief.

The next figure to show up at the threshold to the room was Rocket. He faced Stone and signed, "I need you." Stone instantly obeyed, getting up and heading down the staircase to the base of the tree. Rocket led him to the heart of the village square, on the insignia carved into the rock's surface. With the ocean of Apes still growing in size and loudness all around them, Caesar signed to Stone, "Need you to calm them down."

Stone nodded his head, rearing up on his hand legs. As he balanced his entire over 300 pounds of mass between his small feet, he let out a roar so powerful it swept over all of the shrieking Apes. He did so again a few more times, beating his chest with cupped hands in the process until all the Apes' attention was focused up toward him and Rocket.

When Rocket was certain that they were all listening, he began to sign to them. "Maurice, Cornelia, Caesar, and I all left the village earlier in the night to visit the grave of Buck and the other fallen Apes. During our visit, Caesar was attacked by a very big wolf. It wounded him very badly. I need the doctors to come at once to Caesar's home! The rest of you, go home! Caesar must not be disturbed."

They were slow in their dispersal, but they did all eventually clear out of the village square. The only Apes that remained were the doctors; two female chimpanzees and one male gorilla. Rocket and Stone led them back up the stairs to where Cornelia, Blue Eyes, and a blacked-out Caesar were all waiting. The Ape doctors immediately went to examine Caesar's body. One of them looked over at the bystanders and signed, "Need light." Cornelia replied by going over to the few candles scattered around the room and lighting them one by one, bringing an orange glow to the inside of the room. The doctors sat close around Caesar, poking at the area around the wound. After a little while, one of the female chimps got up and rushed out of the room.

The two remaining doctors when to Cornelia and Blue Eyes, and the other chimp signed, "The wound is very bad. We're going to need some of the human medicine to treat it, or he'll get sick."

Cornelia looked a bit more hopeful signing, "But you can save him?"

The gorilla signed, "If we can keep the wound from festering, then yes. After we give the human medicine, we'll place some herbs on the wound to help with pain, and then we'll bandage it. He'll need to rest for a long time, but he should be fine."

At the mention that Caesar's chances for survival were likely, Cornelia collapsed into Blue Eyes' arms, who was only too happy to receive his anxious mother. He once more lay his chin on her shoulder, petting her back slowly and gently.

As the two of them savored their relief, two more Apes came up from the stairs – Maurice and Koba. "Caesar?" Koba asked before seeing his leader stretched out, weakened and bloody on his own bed. The sight made Koba very still was transfixed by the sheer damage caused by the attack. When he was finally able to break away from horrific picture, he turned to Maurice and Rocket, signing, "What did this?"

"Wolf," Rocket signed. "Very big, very angry."

Koba's eyes went wide and he signed, "Must have been what killed that human I found! Did you kill it?"

Rocket signed, "Stabbed it right through the side. Was bleeding a lot. Couldn't get up afterwards."

Koba sighed and signed, "Good, good. So Apes are safe again."

Rocket shook his head and signed, "What about others? Wolves don't travel alone."

"Sometimes they do," Koba signed. "One gets kicked out."

At that point, the doctors returned with their medicine. At first they administered some antibiotics to the wound, cleaning up the blood and disinfecting the open flesh. Next they lay down some anesthetic herbs to help dull the pain. Lastly, they wrapped up the gash with bandages made from animal skin, wrapping it around Caesar's right shoulder and covering the right part of his torso.

Maurice watched the procedure from a short distance away. As he watched them treat the wound, he couldn't help but flash back to the wolf's attack. The sheer ferocity of its assault, the unparalleled malice in its gaze. It was unlike anything Maurice had ever seen, even amid all of his years in the circus. The size of the animal, its viciousness, and its aloneness all stood out, each highlighted as Koba and Rocket discussed the attack nearby. Something deep inside Maurice warned him that whatever was happening here wasn't quite over yet.

When they finally finished up, the doctor Apes went over to Cornelia and Blue Eyes. One of the chimps signed, "We've done all we can. Now we must leave him to rest. We'll be back in the morning to check on him, but for now, it's best that everyone gets some sleep."

Cornelia nodded and signed, "Thank you."

When the doctors all departed down the spiral staircase, Maurice turned to the remaining Apes and signed, "We should all go now and get some rest."

They all of them nodded. Cornelia stepped forward and signed, "Thank you all for you help. Caesar couldn't have any better friends in the whole village."

"Of course," Koba signed, "It's the least we can do. Apes together, strong."

She nodded and watched them go as they left her alone with her son and her resting husband. Then she turned to Blue Eyes and signed, "He should be alone to rest. I will sleep in your room."

Blue Eyes nodded and led her down to the lower level. He ceded his bed to her and slept on the floor, though it was a while before either of them could get to sleep. The horror of what happened was still terribly fresh in their memories, and if exhaustion hadn't been weighing on them so much, they would have stayed up for hours suffering the images of Caesar's torn flesh. But a combination of the day's festivities and their more recent, horrific ordeal forced them to sleep within a matter of minutes.

* * *

The light pitter patter of a morning drizzle gently dripped onto Maurice as he sat curled up in his nest, high in a tree not too far from the village square. The feeling of the rain drops on his bare cheek flaps was enough to stir him from slumber. His beady green eyes blinked a few times before they looked out over the village, cast under a dreary, cloud-covered sky. A few Apes were out and about, but most seemed to be sticking to their huts to stay out of the light shower. With a long, deep breath, Maurice sat up from them messy mass of leaves that was his next and climbed down to the ground.

Mud clung to his hairless hands and feet as he pulled his bulky body over the moistened earth. He kept his head down to keep from getting little drops of rain in his eyes and nose. Making his way to the communal pond, he absentmindedly reached for a nearby bowl and dipped it into the water. He drank it all down in one big gulp, repeating the process 4 more times. Then, instead of drinking, Maurice tossed the water into his face, giving him a mild, cold shock which he expressed with a brief grunt. He reached up and wiped off the dripping orange hair around his naked cheek flaps.

Suddenly awake, the only thing he could think of was Caesar. He looked up at the tree tower, fast, nervous breaths escaping like fog from his flat nose. His heart pounded against his chest, sending shocks through his entire body with every beat. He debated with himself over whether he should go and see how Caesar and his family were holding up, but a large part of him was afraid of what he might learn.

His thoughts were cut short by the arrival of Koba and Rocket who were calmly making their way to Maurice. Rocket signed to him, "You've seen Caesar?"

Maurice shook his head.

Koba looked anxiously around him, as if checking for other Apes, before signing, "What do we do if Caesar….," and he couldn't bring himself to finish the sign.

Rocket let out a few low whimpers, turning in his steps before signing, "He will be alright. Caesar is strong! Strongest Ape of all!"

"All Apes die, Rocket," Maurice signed slowly. "No matter how strong they are."

"Those wounds looked really bad," Koba signed.

Maurice took another deep breath before signing, "There's only one way to know."

At that moment, they caught sight of Blue Eyes rushing down from the tree fort down toward them. His quickened pace put them all on edge. When he reached them, he reared back and signed, "All of you! You must come!" and he turned around, bounding back toward the tree fort. When Maurice, Rocket, and Koba merely stayed put, wondering what was happening, Blue Eyes turned around and signed, "Come! Quickly! It's a miracle!"

The three of them exchanged confused-if-hopeful glances before they all rushed to the follow Blue Eyes, Maurice picking up the rear. Blue Eyes led them up the stairs, around the trunk to the top layer. When the three of them saw what was awaiting them in Caesar's chambers, they all stopped dead in place.

Caesar was standing tall, Cornelia in his arms. He looked at them as they came in and gestured for them to come closer. They slowly entered the room, keeping their eyes focused on Caesar. Then Cornelia turned to them and signed, "Something amazing has happened!"

They all became more and more curious, until finally Cornelia stepped away from Caesar. Koba stepped back a few steps. Rocket let out a long, quiet howl as his eyes went wide. And Maurice stood perfectly still, taking in the impossible sight with a simple face.

They looked. They searched. They scanned Caesar's entire chest, but there wasn't a single sign of the wound from last night. There wasn't even single drop of dried blood staining Caesar's perfectly healthy-looking black hair.

Rocket took a few tentative steps forward, cooing softly as he gazed with wonder at Caesar. When he got close enough, Rocket reached out and placed a finger right over Caesar's arrow shaped birthmark, where the wound had been only too apparent just last night. "Gone?" he signed vaguely.

Caesar nodded.

Koba signed, "How?"

Caesar looked at him with confusion and signed, "I don't know."

"I don't care," Cornelia signed, placing a hand on Caesar's shoulder. "He's alright, and that's what's most important."

"How do you feel?" Maurice asked.

"I…feel fine." Caesar signed with even more confusion.

"No pain? No weakness?" Koba asked. Caesar shook his head.

Not long after they arrived, the three doctors from the previous night arrived to check up on the patient. They were even more confused than anyone, hooting and examining the area of the vanished flesh wound. There was a lot of confused signing between them.

"This is impossible!" one of them signed.

Rocket shoved the doctor and signed, "It's not impossible! It happened!"

"But how?" one of the other doctor's asked.

"That's what I want to know," Caesar signed.

"Shouldn't we tell the other Apes?" Blue Eyes signed

Caesar shook his head and signed, "No. I want to know exactly what's happened first." A lot of the other Apes nodded in agreement.

One of the chimpanzee doctors stood up and signed, "We think it's best if you stay here for a while. We want to examine you fully before saying that nothing is wrong."

Caesar nodded and turned to Maurice, Koba, and Rocket. He signed, "While we stay here, I need you three to do me a favor." They looked intently, ready to obey. "Retrieve the spear used to kill the wolf," and Caesar shrugged, signing, "It's my favorite."

The three of them nodded and made their way down the stairs, making their way toward the stables. "See? Told you he would be fine!" Rocket signed enthusiastically.

"But so quickly?" Koba asked as they reached the base of the tree. "Nothing like this has ever happened before."

"Maybe doctors just give really good medicine," Rocket signed with a shrug.

Koba shook his head and signed, "No medicine could heal so quickly, especially a wound that bad. Even the doctors were confused."

Rocket signed, "I say it is because Caesar is so strong. He's the strongest Ape of all, so maybe that's why he heels quickly. "

Koba sighed and added, "Maybe, but…even an Ape as strong as Caesar, healing that fast? It just doesn't seem right."

"Caesar is all right again! How is that not all right?" Rocket signed.

"It's not that I'm not happy that he's alright, it's just…..wounds just don't heel that way…," Koba signed, glancing down at the long, jagged scar running down his right arm.

"Maybe Caesar is more than just Ape," Rocket signed, getting excited. "We know he can do things no other Ape can. Maybe this is another one of his strengths?"

Koba snorted and signed, "Maybe…I just don't know."

As they finally reached the stables, there was a female orangutan standing by the gates. She came up to them and signed, "Rocket, Maurice! Your horses came back here all on their own at some point in the night. They seemed very scared. Must have been the wolf you found," and she led them inside to where the horses were all standing stalwart next to each other.

"Thanks Louise, we'll be all set," Maurice signed.

"Okay, let me know if you need anything," and she gave Maurice a kind smile as she left them alone.

When she was out of sight, Koba turned to Maurice and signed, "About Caesar. What do you think, Maurice?"

Maurice did not answer immediately. He kept his thoughts to himself as he placed a hand through the mane of his horse, running his fingers through the long strands of black hair. As he prepared the harness, he signed, "I do not know. But I agree with Koba - something doesn't feel right. And it's more than just Caesar's wounds."

"What do you mean?" Rocket asked.

"That wolf was very…unusual," Maurice signed. "Much bigger than any other wolf we've seen."

Koba nodded and signed, "Also more vicious. Killed a human right in his own home. I've never seen any animal do that before."

Maurice climbed onto his horse and signed, "And it was alone. A big, lone wolf that is more aggressive than a normal wolf."

Rocket nodded as he harnessed his own horse and added, "Also, did you notice the horse's before the wolf attacked? It was as if they sensed it somehow."

Koba waved that off and signed, "Horses hear and smell better than Apes. Maybe they sensed the wolf that way,"

"But still," Maurice continued, "the wolf was still very strange. And this strange wolf bites Caesar, and the bite heals by sunrise. Even stranger."

"What are you saying?" Rocket asked.

"I'm saying that we should probably take a look at this wolf when we find it, maybe even bring it back to the village." Maurice signed.

"Maybe it was sick?" Koba asked. "Sick animals often act weird."

"Maybe," Maurice signed, "But we need to learn more."

When all three were fully mounted, they rode out the same way they left last night, out past the back way and down south along the forested path. Even by high noon, the thick grey clouds combined with the density of the forest to cast them in near-darkness as they rode. It wasn't anywhere near as dark as the night, but it was still quite dark compared to the time of day. Fortunately, with the overhanging branches of the canopy almost acting like an umbrella, the light rain that was still falling was almost undetectable. The fallen rain shone brightly on the wet leaves of every fern and shrub of the undergrowth, and small drops of water dripped off of the sharp tips of many leaves.

When they reached the river, they turned right just as they had last night, and continued on for another half mile. When they reached the grave stone, they looked all around, only to find that there was no sign of any wolf.

"You're sure you killed it?" Koba signed, suddenly feeling very exposed with no weapon.

"I know, I must have!" Rocket signed. "I drove the spear right through its ribs to the other side!"

"It was very dark," Maurice signed. "Maybe you didn't see quite right?"

Rocket shook his head and signed, "I felt it! And we saw how weak it looked. There's no way it could have survived."

"It would not be the first impossible thing to happen today," Maurice pointed out, looking around out into the woods, his confusion growing in accordance with his fear.

Rocket got down from his horse, leading it by the reins to where the wolf was lying against a tree last night. There was a pool of old blood, still wet thanks to the moist weather, as well as little strands of fur and what looked like large dog tracks. "It was definitely here," Rocket signed, keeping his eyes on the tracks as he followed them, leading away from the tree. Judging from the position of the prints, Rocket could tell that the animal was no doubt on its last legs. "It managed to get up and limp off this way," he signed to the other two. He followed the tracks, keeping his face pointed directly down, still leading the horse behind him.

In addition to the tracks, there was also a trail of blood splattering on the ground in between the foot prints. It was also on any of the shorter ferns and bushes, the wolf having painfully brushed up against them as it went on its way. Not too far away from where they started, Rocket was stopped by the discovery of the body. Or, a body at any rate.

Specifically, it was a human body, the cold, naked skin a sickly a pallor, like something that lived its live in a deep, dark cave. The form seemed male to Rocket's eyes, though it was often hard to tell male and female humans apart, especially since this one was lying face down in the wet mud. At first, Rocket assumed that this might have been the wolf's last victim. Then he saw something that caused him to bolt straight up from his stooping position. He raised up an arm and let out loud pant-hoots to the other two.

Maurice and Koba rode over to Rocket and his horse, and they also saw the body. It was lying face down, blood pooling all around it. And most disturbing of all, was Caesar's favorite spear sticking clear into one side of the human and clean out the other, drenched in shimmering scarlet liquid.


	3. Impossible Things

For about five minutes, they stood in complete silence, just staring at the impaled human corpse lying there in the mud before them. They were completely deaf to the chirping birds and singing frogs calling out all around them. The entire scene blurred into a messy nothingness, made of nothing but that white and red pile of flesh. They didn't even notice the few flies that had already been attracted by its rotting stench.

Finally, Koba got down from his horse and signed to the other two Apes, "What…is this?"

Rocket was breathing very shallowly as he answered, "We…I stabbed the wolf with Caesar's spear and threw him against that tree," Rocket signed, pointing to the tree back about 200 feet. "The blood and fur are still there. Then there are wolf tracks that lead all the way here to…," and it was such a strange sight that Rocket couldn't even sign for it.

Koba looked incredulously over at Rocket and signed, "Are you saying that the wolf changed into this man?"

Rocket gave a few distressed hoots, shaking his head and signing, "Didn't say that. I don't know…"

"As I've already said - this is just the latest impossible thing to happen this past day," Maurice signed, also descending from his horse.

Koba went over to the bloodied corpse, recoiling a little at first from the sight and smell of it. Then, still grimacing, he reached out and put his hand on the body's shoulder, pulling it up and pushing it over to get the man on his back. The spear still sticking prominently through him made the task a bit difficult, but it was nothing Koba couldn't overcome.

The man's face was overcome with a frozen expression of sheer agony. There was blood all around his lips, and even stained on his teeth. Koba bared his teeth in disgust as he grabbed hold of the spear's handle, placed his foot on the body for stability, and wrenched it out of the gaping hole it had created in the man's torso. In addition to the blood, it had little strips of flesh dangling off of it, something even Koba found a bit distasteful. He shook it forcefully to get them off. Most of them flew off instantly, some of them hitting Rocket in the face.

"Sorry Rocket," Koba signed, suppressing a laugh.

Rocket looked down, keeping his eyes on the forest floor. He wandered around the body, clearing away any leaf litter that obscured his vision of the wet earth. After he circled the body he stood up and signed, "No more tracks from here. No human, no wolf, nothing."

Koba snorted and shook his head even more, banging the spear down on the ground. Then he signed, "Okay, we need to figure out what's going on here."

Maurice looked around and signed, "Well, there are no foot prints either leading away from the body, or leading to it. So nothing else came this way. This is the same spear used to skewer the wolf, and it's impaled on this human in the same way. The wolf foot prints lead here, so there is only one explanation I can think of."

Koba shook his head and signed, "Someone could have covered their tracks. Put this body here and made it look like it's the wolf."

Maurice tilted his head and signed, "That's possible, but why would someone do that? And it also doesn't explain how Caesar's wound healed so quickly."

"What do you mean?" Rocket asked.

"A strange wolf attacks Caesar. By the next day, the wound is healed, the wolf is gone, and a human lies in its place. I think these things are connected somehow," Maurice signed, a worried look glistening in his eyes.

"What should we do?" Rocket asked.

Maurice took another look around, as if checking for clues. When he couldn't find anything else of interest, he signed, "For now, let's go back to the village, return Caesar's spear. We'll talk with him, tell him what we've found."

The other two nodded, and they all remounted their horses. Riding back the way they came, Koba stopped off at the river to wash the blood and flesh off of Caesar's spear. When he was finished, they continued on their way, arriving back at the Ape village in just little over half an hour.

When they entered the village, the other Apes were much more active. When the others all saw Maurice, Rocket, and Koba ride up to the village square through the back arch, they all stopped whatever it was they were doing and bounded up to the three. Amid all of the hooting and cooing, they all signed variations of the phrase, "How's Caesar."

As Maurice dismounted his horse, he waved off their inquiries with a lazy sign of, "Not sure yet," which was more honest than he wished. The other Apes followed them as they headed toward Caesar's tree fort, only stopping once Maurice, Rocket, and Koba had crossed the threshold to the spiraling stairs.

When they met back up with Caesar, there was only one doctor remaining; one of the female chimpanzees. Cornelia and Blue Eyes were also there, sitting off to the side and casually munching on some roots and fish for lunch. "Any news?" Koba asked, holding Caesar's spear in his right hand.

The doctor shook her head, signing, "None that we can see. There's not a single trace of the wound left, and Caesar shows now signs of any infection."

"Where are the other doctors?" Rocket asked.

"They left, other patients to see," she signed simply. "I was preparing to leave now anyway. There's nothing for me to do here, no cause for worry." She packed up the few pieces of equipment she brought and carried them out in her right hand, using her left to help her walk.

Caesar walked over to Koba with an outstretched hand. Koba stared at it for a second before remembering. He handed Caesar the spear, which Caesar took with a smile. "Thank you," he signed to all of them.

"Caesar," Maurice signed to him, "There's something…we need to talk to you about."

With a confused look, Caesar followed Maurice, Rocket, and Koba down the stairs to Blue Eyes' lower level. When they were inside, Koba peeked out to make sure no one was coming. With no one in sight, Caesar asked them, "What is it?"

No one was eager to volunteer their explanation. They kept their eyes down toward the ground, turning their faces away from Caesar. When the silence became too awkward to put up with, Rocket slowly raised his hands and signed, "We went to retrieve your spear, and….we didn't see the wolf."

Caesar's eyes went hide and he frantically signed, "It's still alive?"

Once more, none of them was willing to offer the necessary explanation. Koba kept absolutely still, as if refusing to let such an unbelievable idea escape from his hands. Rocket also stayed in place, believing he had already done his part. Eventually, Maurice realized that the onus was on him. He put his hands up and signed, "The wolf died but….," he couldn't help but pause, thinking about the absurdity he was actually going to sign, "after dying, the wolf…changed into a man."

Caesar squinted, thinking he might have misread Maurice's signs. He looked at Rocket and Koba, as if looking for some kind of confirmation. When they gave them none, he repeated the signs to Maurice. "The wolf…died…and then it changed into a man?" One by one, the three of them nodded.

Caesar's initial reaction was to shriek with anger at them for giving him such a ridiculous answer for what really was a pressing issue. Miraculous healing or not, he didn't want to suffer the faintest chance that that wolf was still out there, waiting to attack some hapless Ape. But he trusted these Apes above all others, except maybe Cornelia. So he kept as straight a face as possible and signed, "And….what makes you think that's what happened."

Both Koba and Maurice turned to Rocket. He looked back at them, grunting in frustration as he was put on the spot. He calmed back down and signed, "When we reached the sight of Buck's grave, he found the spot where I tossed the wolf last night. There was blood and fur, and…footprints. Wolf tracks leading away. We followed the tracks for another 200 feet until we found a body underneath the ferns. It was….the body of a man."

Caesar didn't look impressed. "So the wolf killed a stray human then."

Rocket shook his head and continued, "The wolf didn't kill the human. When we found him…..your spear was sticking through him." There was yet another long pause between them as Caesar looked from his spear to them.

Suddenly Koba blurted out with his hands, "I don't believe it either, Caesar. It's impossible. I think this was set up by humans. They switched the bodies and covered their tracks."

"But that doesn't explain how Caesar healed so quickly," Maurice signed, snarling at Koba, not very appreciative of his outburst.

"Explain," Caesar signed, jumping back in and looking at Maurice.

Maurice stood tall and began signing. "The wolf that attacked you last night was larger than a regular wolf, was more aggressive than a regular wolf, and it was traveling alone. An abnormal wolf attacks you, and before the sun has risen the next day, the wound has healed, the wolf is gone, and a man is lying in the place where it died. This isn't just coincidence, Caesar. I firmly believe that these things are connected….though I don't know how…"

As Caesar watched Maurice as he signed, Caesar saw in his eyes the deathly seriousness with which he felt. There was a deep fear lurking behind those beads of green. Caesar didn't know if Maurice was right or wrong, but either way, he was definitely genuine. Caesar nodded and signed, "I believe…that you did see whatever it was you saw. But the idea that a wolf can change into a man….seems impossible. How did it happen? And what would it have to do with my wounds?"

Koba gave Caesar a look of disbelief, signing, "You believe this?"

Caesar shook his head and signed, "I'm not sure if I believe, but we must remain open to the possibilities. I know from experience that humans are capable of many extraordinary things." Koba looked away and flashed his teeth for just a second. "You know it's true, Koba. Humans may be cruel, but there are no limits to what they can create. For all we know, this wolf might have been a human creation of some kind," and he shrugged.

Koba relaxed his posture a bit, signaling that he at least accepted the possibility. Rocket only became more confused with fuel added to the flames of uncertainty. Maurice simply gave a soft nod, appreciating the open-mindedness of their leader. "So then, what should we do?" Rocket asked.

Caesar shrugged again. "Nothing we can do. We keep our eyes open for anything unusual, but other than that, life will go on as usual."

At that moment, Blue Eyes descended from the upper level, looking at the four intruders to his bedroom, hooting and shrieking loudly, and pounding on the ground with his hands. "What are you all doing in my room?!" he signed frantically.

Standing tall , Caesar remained quiet as he gave his son a look as intense as his heaving chest. "Just talking, not your concern," he signed.

Blue Eyes didn't let up as he signed, "Why not?"

"Because you're young," Caesar signed.

This did nothing to placate Blue Eyes, who continued hollering and pounding as he signed. "I'm five years old! Stop treating me like a whiteass! Tell me what's going on!"

"No!" Caesar bellowed in a loud voice that shook every Ape in the room. Maurice, Koba, and Rocket all stepped back instinctively. Blue Eyes stared his father down, though he had at least silenced himself. As Caesar stared into those bizarre, eponymous eyes, he caught sight of something tortured – the fuel that fed Blue Eyes' fiery rebellion. Even though Blue Eyes kept his stare as stony as possible, Caesar did make out the slight quiver of his lip as he sank his head below his shoulders. Caesar let out a deep, long breath through his flat nose, relaxing his posture as he stood.

A distressed Cornelia hopped down from the upper level, looking around the room and signing, "What, what's wrong?"

Blue Eyes turned away, snorting as he signed to his mother, "Nothing."

Being well versed in Blue Eye's language of angst, Cornelia shot Caesar a hard look. Before Caesar could respond to her, Blue Eyes took off down the stairs, toward the village square. Cornelia let out two shrieks calling him back, but he was already off. Easing his shoulders, Caesar prepared to give chase when Koba put up a hand and signed, "I'll get him," and he dropped to all fours, rushing off to catch Blue Eyes.

Maurice looked back at Caesar and Rocket, signing, "We'll talk about this another time."

"If need be, yes," Caesar signed, "but for now, let's just leave it. Things seem to be just fine…or nearly so at any rate…," he added, turning in the direction of his fleeing child.

Maurice and Rocket turned around and strode out of the tree fort back to their homes. When they were out of sight, he collapsed onto his rear end, letting out a prolonged sigh, slouching forward. Cornelia walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, signing, "Is everything alright? What were you talking about?"

Caesar thought solidly about whether he should tell Cornelia about what Maurice, Rocket, and Koba had told him. In the end, it seemed pointless. Whatever happened was over now. There was no reason to upset her. He signed, "Nothing. Just talking about the fast healing."

She sensed he was withholding something and asked, "What did they say?"

Caesar shrugged and signed, "They're just as unsure as we are. Nothing to worry about."

* * *

When Blue Eyes was certain he was far enough away from the tree fort, he reared up on his hind legs and pounded the muddy ground with his hands. He didn't care about the looks given by the nearby Apes.

Koba showed up just a few moments later. Blue Eyes turned to face him, softening slightly at the welcome revelation that it wasn't his father. Koba signed, "Hold up kid. Where are you going?"

Blue Eyes snorted gruffly, signing, "Anywhere. Away. Can't take him anymore!"

"Your father just worries about you. He cares for you, like he cares for all Apes," Koba signed, leaning in to look Blue Eyes directly in the face.

"Don't want him to care!" Blue Eyes signed very briskly. "I want him to treat me like an adult!"

Koba let out a low whimper, reaching out a putting a finger gently onto Blue Eyes' lower lip. "Don't say that. There's nothing quite like a father's love."

Blue Eyes shook his head, letting out many snorts as he was assaulted by a guilt that mixed painfully with his anger. Deep in his heart, he couldn't ever blame his father for caring, no matter how tedious and annoying it felt. He didn't want to be the angry teenager he knew he was embodying. He panted deeply for a few moments before sitting down. Then he looked back up at Koba and asked, "Was your father like this?" If Koba answered with 'yes' then that would be very helpful to know.

Koba leaned back a bit, taken off guard by the question. "I…I actually never knew my father. Only my mother."

Blue Eye looked up immediately, regretting the question with every ounce of his being. He quickly signed, "Oh, sorry…didn't mean to-,"

Koba waved him off, and signed, "It's alright Blue Eyes. Not your fault." There was something of a low, hissing growl in his voice as he signed. It wasn't Blue Eyes' fault. Koba knew exactly who's fault it was. Wanting to change the subject, Koba signed, "Let's go hunting. Right now, just the two of us. I'll let you use one of my spears. How does that sound?"

Blue Eyes instantly perked up at the offer, standing tall on four legs. He nodded.

After picking up their horses from the stables, the two Apes rode off along the northern gate to the village, past the gorilla guard and out into the lush redwood forests spreading out for miles around. There was just enough light left in the day, even with the dense cloud cover, to get some decent hunting in. As they rode through the cool, moist air, Blue Eyes let the wind enter into his body, passing effortlessly through his nose and mouth. There was something so simply calming about riding through the woods, feeling the world around you pass by at an otherwise impossible blur. Far from the village, Blue Eyes could let out his anxieties, leaving them behind in the depths of the forest. Koba's presence wasn't disturbing in the least. He was one of the few Apes Blue Eyes could even stand to be around these days, certainly the only adult Ape.

About two miles north, Koba slowed his horse and signaled for Blue Eyes to do the same. "Come, let's go on foot from here," he signed, getting down from his horse and tying it to a nearby tree. Blue Eyes followed his lead. "Here," Koba signed, tossing him a spear, "you can use this. One of my extras."

Blue Eyes nodded, grunting and panting excitedly as he caught the spear. The two then set about looking for tracks, snapped foliage, or any other signs of recent animal activity. In the low light of the early evening, things were hard to discern. All in all, there was little left to be gleaned from the forest other than the subdued calls of birds sounding off all around them. They would turn over rocks and old logs only to discover a few frogs, salamanders, or snakes. None of these were particularly appetizing. Still, the relaxing atmosphere of the bush was enough to satisfy Blue Eye's tired mind.

After about a half hour or so, Blue Eyes looked to Koba and signed cautiously, "Your mother…what was she like?"

Once gain, Koba was unprepared for the question, stopping in his tracks and staring absent-mindedly at the forest floor. A few moments later, he weakly signed, "She was….a beautiful Ape. As kind and loving to me as your mother is to you."

"What happened to her?" Blue Eyes dared to sign.

Vivid flashes of a dark room, a terrified bonobo, and a foul-smelling, raging human struck like bolts of lightning in his mind's eyes. Somewhere, hidden in the ambient bird song was the sound of his mother's horrified screams, set against the violent poundings made against her body. The only thing Koba could find to sign in response was, "humans,"

Blue Eyes flared his lips back, hissing with the reveal of his stark white canine teeth. "Only they would be so hateful."

A simple smile spread over Koba's face as he appreciated his 'nephew's' scornful signs. "Right, Blue Eyes," he signed. "You show much wisdom for your age."

Those were the words Blue Eyes responded to best. He stood up proudly and signed, "Thank you, Koba. Father says that we shouldn't be so angry toward the humans. But I know that he is wrong."

Even this far out in the woods, Koba wasn't about to openly question the authority of Caesar, especially not in front of his own son. But masked behind his silence was a burning agreement, a resenting attitude forcibly buried underneath layers of false agreement. He resigned himself to signing, "It's easy to be merciful now, when humans are nearly gone. But should they ever become a threat again, I'm sure his mind would change."

"I don't' understand why you can't be the leader," Blue Eyes signed rather casually. "You're just as strong as father, and a lot smarter."

Koba failed to stifle his wide-mouthed laughs upon seeing Blue Eyes sign something like that. It was almost painful to see it coming from Caesar's own son. On the other hand, it wasn't as if Koba couldn't see the argument. But in the end he shook his head and signed, "No, no, Blue Eyes. Your father has earned his place as leader of the clan. We all live happy lives under his leadership."

Blue Eyes looked down at the ground. "I guess…but I still think things would be even better under you."

Koba gave his softest eyes to his friend's son, reaching out and placing his hand on Blue Eyes' shoulder. "Thanks, kid. But, I guess we'll never know."

A rustling of the bushes up ahead, caused both Apes to freeze in their tracks. Koba darted behind a large tree, pointing at an adjacent tree for Blue Eyes to duck behind. Keeping as quiet as possible, Koba peered around the lichen-covered tree bark, squinting through the shadow of the canopy. He caught sight of a disturbance in the bush about a hundred feet out. Holding his spear to his chest, Koba signed to Blue Eyes, "Sneak up ahead, I'll flush it toward you."

Blue Eyes nodded, keeping low as he crept into the depths of the underbrush. Koba mirrored the action in the other direction, walking on three legs and clutching a spear in the other. The movement ahead of them had ceased for the moment, but Koba remembered the spot where he'd seen it. Blue Eyes was now gone from sight, but Koba trusted him to be where he needed to be. He crouched low, waiting for the moment to come to him, withholding every breath to maintain the silence.

In a blink, he leaped out of the surrounding ferns with a loud snarl, landing with a thud and bull rushing the shrubs up ahead. A small, brown form shot out of the leaves, rushing like a blur across the forest floor. As Koba galloped behind, he angled himself to one side, cutting off its escape and driving it toward Blue Eyes. There was no sound to him other than his own haggard breaths going in and out against the backdrop of his flat feet and hard knuckles digging into the moist soil and pushing him forward in pursuit.

The brown blur collided with a black one as Blue Eyes jumped out from behind a tree, spear held in both hands. He brought the spear down with startling precision, his own shrieks of battle accompanied by the agonized cries of their prey. As Koba caught up to them, he looked down to see his borrowed spear embedded point first into the back of a woodchuck. Blood was gushing profusely from the back wound, splattered in all directions by the tortured thrashing of the dying rodent. In a final moment of decision, Koba raised his spear in both hands and brought it down on the woodchuck's skull. A crack. A splatter. Then silence.

They both looked down at their kill. Blue Eyes signed, "Not much, but it's something."

"It's tomorrow's lunch," Koba said, picking up the limp body of the woodchuck and hoisting it over his shoulder. Blood dripped liberally down his back as he walked with Blue Eyes to where their horses were waiting patiently. Both horses stood still, lazily staring out at the forest, only vaguely aware that their riders were returning.

Undoing the knot binding them to the tree, Koba steadied his horse as he sprang up onto its back. Blue Eyes did the same just in time for both horses to whinny suddenly, snorting out clouds of hot, condensed breath as they nervously stomped the ground with their front hooves. Both Apes pulled on the reins, managing to keep them still and quiet them down somewhat, but there were still obvious signs of nervousness in the swiveling of their heads and the increased rate of their breathing.

"What's wrong with them?" Blue Eyes asked.

Koba didn't answer immediately, turning his head in all directions and straining his vision to make out the faintest details in the surrounding forest. He couldn't see anything noteworthy, but that didn't make the grip on his spear any less firm. "Let's go, now," he signed.

Both of them tugged on the reins, the horses turning around and trotting anxiously back along the path toward the village. Koba, Blue Eyes, and the horses were all at full vigilance. A splotch of red along the side of the path caused Koba to pull hard on the reins, the horse coming to a startling halt with a distressed whinny. Blue Eyes followed suit with his own horse,

Crouching low by a small, passing stream, staring back up at them with wide, brown eyes was an adult human, a female judging from her more gracile form and long, fiery red hair. They might have mistaken her for a statue based on how still she was, if not for the small, foggy breaths escaping from her open mouth. The canteen she held in her right hand, angled against the current of the stream, was overflowing at this point, not that she noticed. Her attention was elsewhere.

The Apes and the human stared at one another in total silence for a solid moment. None of them was sure of how long that moment was, though it felt much longer than it probably was.

"Go!"

The single spoken word ran right through Blue Eye's whole body. He shivered just a bit as Koba's voice continued to echo all around them, bouncing off the massive tree trunks. It had an even greater affect on the human, who collapsed onto her rear, scrambling to get back on to her feet.

Koba had no use for her delay. He raised his hand, spear still firmly in his grasp, and yelled again, "Go! Now!"

This time the response was instantaneous. She rushed to her feet, canteen still in hand, and bolted off in the opposite direction of the village. They watched her flee until she was totally obscured by dense foliage.

"What do we do?" Blue Eyes asked.

"We go back to the village, tell your father. We put the gorillas on alert," Koba answered.

"We won't follow her?"

Koba shook his head. "She's weak. Even if there are others, they will also be weak. She's terrified of us. She's headed away from the village. We'll never see her again."

With that, they continued their journey back to the village. There were no more human sightings on their way back, and their horses had calmed down to their normal temperament. About half an hour later, they passed under the front arch to the village, a few gorillas lying almost lazily against the fortified wooden spires. Upon riding up to the village square, Koba let out a few high-pitched shrieks. These alerted many of the Apes still wandering around before preparing to turn in for the coming night. They began congregating around the two Apes, still sitting above them on horseback. Among the Apes alerted by the shrieks was Caesar, who walked briskly and bow-legged out of the tree fort and onto the rock overlook marked by the village insignia. When he saw that Koba and Blue Eyes had returned, he was instantly worried. "What is it?" he signed.

"Humans," Koba signed. The single sign was enough to set off the other Apes, but Caesar calmed them down with a single raised hand.

"How many? Where?" Caesar asked.

"Just one, female, around a half mile North of here heading farther North away from the village," Koba answered quickly.

Caesar looked around. Not seeing what he was looking for, he called out in a low, gruff voice, "Stone!"

A few minutes later, Stone came galloping up to the village square, grunting frantically. "What is it?" he signed.

"Put the gorillas on high alert tonight. Another human sighting," Caesar signed firmly. Stone didn't hesitate for a moment, nodding quickly before turning around and sprinting off toward the front gate.

The news quickly spread throughout the village. Every Ape with a spear kept it close by their nest that night. All the young were called in before the sun had fully set. Koba even let Blue Eyes hang on to the spear he'd lent him to go hunting, something that lessened his embarrassment as Caesar called him back to the tree fort. By nightfall, there wasn't a single candle shining anywhere in the village, not a single hoot, holler, or whimper to be heard from any hut. It seemed as if the entire village had been completely abandoned, and the hidden Apes hoped that any humans that might come in the night would think that it was.

* * *

It was midnight. Or at least that's what Maurice figured as he sat in his nest, as wide awake as he was at high noon. Even if it wasn't precisely midnight, it must have been close, either before or after. The moon was hanging directly overhead, casting bright blue moonbeams on the seemingly empty Ape village. It wasn't quite full, though it might as well have been for the eerie glow it was producing.

Maurice sat with his back up against the trunk, letting one leg dangle over the edge of the nest. He rubbed his pot belly slowly with his hands. The clam demeanor masked a fevered mind, fueled by thoughts racing from one end of his brain to the other. It wasn't the human alert that kept him up this late. If experience was anything to go by, then a lone, unarmed, human female was hardly something to be scared about. What was much more pressing to the old orangutan were the many lingering questions he had over the incident on New Year's night. The wolf and the wound. He supposed that Caesar's explanation – that the wolf, or man, was the product of human invention – was the beast explanation of any. He certainly couldn't think of a better one. But it was very distant from satisfying.

Out of the corner of his left eye, he caught sight of something; a black dot coming down from Caesar's tree fort. It was slowly and quietly making its way to the communal pond. As far as Maurice could tell from this distance, the spot was Caesar himself, stopping by the edge of the pond. His curiosity thoroughly piqued, Maurice hauled himself out of his nest and made his way to the bottom of the tree.

For a three hundred pound Ape, he moved with surprising finesse, without creating the faintest sound. Now at ground level, and a little bit closer to the pond, Maurice confirmed that it was indeed Caesar, who wasn't even bothering with bowls. He was cupping his hands into the water and bringing them to his face.

Maurice called out as quietly as possible, just loud enough for Caesar to hear him. He didn't want Caesar to feel like he was sneaking up on him. Caesar heard the call, and jumped in place, apparently startled. He turned his still-dripping face in Maurice's direction, letting out a long sigh. He gestured for Maurice to come closer, and Maurice followed.

"Sorry," Maurice signed, "Saw you coming. Was curious."

Caesar nodded and waved off the apology, signing, "It's alright. What are you doing up?"

Maurice lowered his eyes, signing almost blankly, "Can't sleep. I keep thinking about what happened to you."

Caesar nodded and signed, "Me too."

"I know that everything seems to be fine now…and maybe it is. But there's still so much that we don't know…and that scares me. It absolutely terrifies me. Things maybe fine. Or they might get much worse. We don't know, and if we don't know, then there's nothing we can do. Knowledge is power. Without it, we're powerless," Maurice signed, letting out many low, stressed grunts.

Caesar put two, firm hands on Maurice's shoulders, patting the long mats of tangled, orange hair. "I know, Maurice. I'm scared too. But until we learn more, there's no point in straining yourself. The best thing you can do now is just live like normal. Which for now means getting some sleep."

Maurice formed a small grin underneath the bushy mustache hanging over his lips. Then he signed, "What about you? Can't sleep?"

Caesar shrugged a little and signed, "Just a bad dream, that's all. Water clears my head."

"What was the dream about?" Maurice asked.

Caesar hesitated before signing, "Just… about New Year's night." He saw the concern start to grow on Maurice's face, and Caesar quickly added, "It's fine, Maurice. It was very scary, it's only normal that I would dream about it."

Maurice let out a low sigh. "I suppose you're right."

"Good. Now, we should both go back to bed, and try to get some sleep," he signed, giving a gentle touch to Maurice's left arm. Maurice nodded, and both Apes turned around, and retreated back to their respective homes.

**Well here we are. Honestly, Chapters 2 and 3 could have been combined into one, but I was eager to post something. How will the apes deal with one of the most iconic horror-creatures in all of fiction? Stay tuned!**

**A quick thank you to the following people for their kind reviews, favorites, and follows. Your input is all very greatly appreciated and is what drives me to keep writing, even with the rest of life determined to get in the way.**

**amore1993, SarahMatrix04, Artista 321, chawk1993, Chaos Evans, BreetZel, Ladydaysingsblues, Purple Duskywing, 0Fenix, CookandBaker, Capricornia, Angel-But-A-Demon, Duchess Xanda, Ford1114, GeorgiaTypes, HaruAngel08, Karakin, Pokie4life, Human-Machine, RedtailHawk19**


	4. Revelations

Maurice stood tall and proud at the head of the class, holding a small, flattened rock between two fingers. The sun was as high as it ever was, not single wisp of cloud to conceal it. With the sun shining so brilliantly, it was no wonder the day was as warm as it was – perfectly reflecting Maurice's mood. Heat was escaping easily from his barer belly and face, the rest trapped under thick blankets of dark orange hair. As beautiful as the day was, he was thankful that the lesson was nearing its end. A good portion of his thoughts at that point rested in a bowl sitting by the cool, refreshing waters of the communal pond.

"Alright, and lastly, little ones, who can tell me what the biggest carnivore in the forest is?" Maurice gently signed to the many, many little faces staring up at him. There was a flurry of responses as little hairy arms were all waved eagerly into the air. Maurice examined the volunteers carefully, making sure to choose as deliberately and fairly as possible. _Hmmm, last time I picked a male gorilla, so this time…_ "Kim?" he pointed to a little female orangutan.

At first Kim buried her face in her hands, as if regretting that she ever put her hand up. But seeing that the teacher was expecting a response she timidly put her hands up and signed, "Is it…the bear?"

Maurice felt so sorry for the little orangutan. She seemed deathly terrified of being wrong, and unfortunately she was. "A very good guess Kim," he signed as easily as he could, "but remember, a carnivore is an animal that only eats meat, while bears eat meat and plants." Kim looked positively heartbroken. Maurice cooed softly and signed, "It's alright Kim. Do you remember what we call an animal that eats plants and meat?"

Kim thought hard, eager to redeem herself in the eyes of the other Ape infants. The she jumped up and down, signing, "Omnivore!"

Maurice grinned widely, showing off his teeth just for a second, nodding and signing, "Yes, very good Kim! So bears are the biggest omnivores in the forest. But what about the biggest carnivore?" Once more, hands flew up and waved around, and once more, Maurice picked carefully. "Skye?"

A male chimpanzee stood up and signed, "Mountain Lion?"

Maurice nodded and signed, "That's right Skye. Mountain Lion." In addition to repeating the sign, he took a flat slab of rock and drew on it with the small piece in his hand. When he was finished tracing the pictorial symbol for mountain lion, he held it up for all of them to see. "That finishes the lesson for today. Tomorrow we talk about the reptiles."

In less than an instant, the young ones were back to their instinctual selves – playing, wrestling, shrieking, and running around. They were never so excited as they were to be free on this gorgeous day. And Maurice was in complete agreement.

As he turned to make his way to the pond, he was stopped short by the sudden appearance of Cornelia. She was standing on all fours, looking up at him. "Cornelia?" he signed.

She nodded and signed, "Good afternoon Maurice. All finished with today's lesson?"

Maurice nodded, his cheek flaps bobbing up and down slightly from his enthusiasm. "Just finished now."

Cornelia turned and looked out over the small sea of little black and orange bodies, rolling around amongst each other without an ounce of care or worry between them. "You're so good with them," she signed, her brow ridges perking upward.

Maurice looked away in modesty. "They make it easy for me. So eager to learn. He waited a second, and then noticed that Cornelia was still standing by him. "Something you need? I was just about to get a drink."

Cornelia whimpered a little bit as she shook her head. "Oh sorry," she signed. "There is something I wanted to talk about. I'll come with you," she said, reaching out and gently tugging on the hairs of his right arm.

The two Apes ambled over to the pond, where Maurice instantly reached out for a bowl when it was an arm's length way. He carelessly dipped it under the water and brought it up to his lips, splashing his entire face with water even as he gulped down several mouthfuls of the precious liquid. He could feel the water travel down his gullet and give his insides a very welcome cool down.

When he was all finished, he signed, "Now, what can I do for you?"

Cornelia paused before signing, turning her head to see if any Apes were looking at them. When she was certain that they were all too busy to give them any care, she slowly signed, "It's about Caesar. There's something wrong with him but he won't tell me what."

Maurice signed with concern, "What's wrong?"

"He hasn't been sleeping well at all," she signed, worry glistening in her green eyes, "Been this way for about two weeks."

The timeframe caused Maurice to grimace as he confirmed, "Two weeks? You mean since New Year's?"

She gave a reluctant nod. "Every night, he wakes up panting heavily. He thinks I don't know, and he hasn't spoken to me about it."

"What are you going to do?" Maurice asked.

"He needs to talk about it. If he continues to ignore it, then it's going to hurt him," she signed.

"You want me to talk to him?" Maurice asked, sitting down to get closer to her level.

"You, Rocket, Koba, and me. He needs to know that he can trust us, and that we can help him through this," she signed.

Maurice nodded and signed, "That is probably the best thing for it."

As if on cue, the sound of many hooves pounding against dry earth was heard coming up the path toward the village square. It started out very faintly, rising in volume with each passing second until a herd of dark chocolate-covered horses galloped into the village square, each with a chimpanzee sitting atop its back. Beside the horse-mounted chimps, several others ran along side them on foot. In addition, there were a few large, male gorillas with them, wooden baskets filled with hunting tools strapped to their backs. Caesar rode at the head of the party, Blue Eyes, Rocket, and Koba riding right behind him.

When they arrived, many of the Apes in the village went up to them expectantly. They looked all throughout the group, but disappointment spread quickly among them. This was confirmed when Caesar looked at them all and shook his head. With nothing for them there, the other Apes sulked back to their daily business.

"Another unsuccessful hunt," Maurice guessed, judging by everyone's reaction to the returning hunting party. Blue Eyes jumped down from his horse along with Ash, and the two wasted no time in distancing themselves from their fathers. As the rest of the Apes dismounted, Louise the orangutan came to collect the horses and bring them back to the stables.

Caesar kept his head down as he made his way to the tree fort, only offering the simplest nod to Cornelia and Maurice as he passed them. When he was gone from sight, Cornelia turned to Maurice and signed, "Go get Rocket and Koba. I'll try to start."

Maurice ambled off to catch Rocket and Koba before they retired to their homes. Cornelia followed Caesar up the tree. She found him sitting in their nest, facing away from the overlook. She let out a soft hoot to let him know she was in the room. When he didn't look up, she approached him slowly. Since he wasn't facing her, she had to get very close in order for him to see her signs. "How was the hunt?"

He didn't look up as he snorted and signed, "Caught nothing."

Cornelia could easily sense that Caesar wasn't in a talking mood. But as Maurice, Rocket, and Koba all walked in on them at that moment, Caesar's mood hardly mattered. He looked up at the three newcomers, then back to his wife, confusion worn clearly on his expression. "What is this?" he signed.

Cornelia stood up tall, looking him square in the eyes and signing, "We need to talk."

The long, exhausted sigh that Caesar gave told them very clearly that he wasn't looking forward to the talk. But as he turned his body to face them all, they were surprised by his lack of resistance. There was something labored in his gaze, as if he recognized the inevitability of it. "Very well," he signed simply.

Caught off guard by his willingness, Cornelia paused before signing, "I…I know you haven't been sleeping well. You think I don't notice when you wake up in the middle of the night, panting and whimpering before going to get a drink."

"I know it too," Koba signed suddenly. The composure of his signing seemed to imply that he'd been carrying these thoughts all day. "You're not focused during the hunt. Prey gets away. You seem exhausted all the time." Rocket stepped back from Koba as he signed, slightly embarrassed that Koba seemed to blame Caesar for the failure of their hunt. "And not just today. We haven't caught anything all week."

There was clear pain in Caesar's eyes from Koba's accusatory signing. Maurice interjected to try and take some of that pain away. "If there is something that is hurting you, then please let us help. Apes together, strong."

There was nothing Caesar could sign to argue with that. He nodded and answered them. "It is true. I haven't been sleeping well at all. Every night, I have bad dreams. Very bad dreams.

"They started two weeks ago, after the attack on New Year's. At first they were just normal nightmares – visions of the wolf and the attack. But after a few days, they changed. I wasn't being attacked by the wolf," and he paused, as if debating with himself whether to continue or not, "I…I was the wolf. I dreamed that I was a wolf, running through the woods, prowling and hunting and howling at the moon. As I dreamed, I felt this…feeling of…anger. Fury. Like I was building to attack. When the feeling eventually came out, I would wake up. The dreams were bad enough, but….there's more.

"Ever since the last week, I've been having strange feelings. I feel…more irritated. More aggressive. When we go out hunting, and I look at the prey, I become filled with this urge, an urge to leap on to it and tear at its throat with my teeth. It's like…it's like I'm not just the wolf in my dreams. I feel like the wolf when I'm awake too."

There was a deafening silence after Caesar was finished signing. Rocket looked absolutely confused, unable to fully comprehend what Caesar was telling them. Koba's jaw was just slightly agape, the tips of his long canines visible under the lips. Maurice kept perfectly still, but his stillness was just as disconcerting in and of itself. Caesar looked at all four of the other Apes, hoping for anything from them to comfort him.

Finally, Maurice stepped forward and signed, "I was most afraid this would happen. I had hoped that the attack on New Year's would pass without anything happening. But it would seem I was wrong." As he signed, his hands were shaking, conveying the deep terror building behind that stony face."

"What's happened?" Koba signed simply. "Just bad dreams, nothing more."

Maurice shook his head vigorously, grunting as he signed, "It's more than just bad dreams. The feelings in the dreams keep getting stronger, and now they start coming to Caesar while awake. What if this continues, what then?"

"So? What then?" Koba asked.

"Who knows?" Maurice asked, putting his long, hairy arms up in the air. "We don't. And that's the problem. These feelings may go away, or something worse might happen."

"Worse? How?" Rocket asked, getting more anxious as he rocked back on all four legs.

The full extent of the potential horror sat inside Maurice's mind, though he dare not sign it in front of them. It was something he desperately wanted to believe wasn't possible, but that was no longer a valid excuse. The impossible had already happened, and there was nothing to keep it from happening again. Slowly, with weak hands, he signed, "We found a wolf that changed into a man. But what if…what if it was the other way around? What if it was a man who changed into a wolf?"

The idea hit Caesar like a rock to the head, causing him to stand up. The sign acted as a catalyst to this thoughts, connections being mad, possibilities being examined. He started pant-hooting instinctively out of fear, pacing around the nest.

Maurice tried to calm Caesar by signing, "Remember, we know nothing about this for sure-"

"Then…we must...learn more!" Caesar said in a low, hoarse voice. The spoken words were not angry, but they were fiercely determined. Standing at full height, he gave all of them a very serious expression. Then he brought up his hands to sign, "You all must go. Find out as much about the wolf that attacked me as you can. Where it came from, how it got here. And you must do so as quickly as you can."

Maurice, Cornelia, and Rocket all instantly bowed their heads in obedience. Koba looked around and saw their reaction, mimicking it even as he sighed in disbelief. They all turned around and headed down the stairs, passing through the village square on their way to the stables. Koba stopped them midway and signed, "Before we leave, we should each get a weapon."

Maurice shook his head, "Don't have one."

Koba rolled his head in frustration and signed, "Will lend you one of mine."

They all met up at the stables after grabbing a spear each. After quickly harnessing their horses, they rode out of the stables, through the back entrance to village, heading South as they retraced their steps. Turning right at the river, they reached the sight of Buck's grave in just over half an hour. A few hundred feet away from it was the corpse, still human after two weeks and very well-decomposed. Any skin left on the body was well blistered, even as many patches head already fallen off. With the skin so far dried out, the roots of the fingernails and hair were exposed, making them look longer than they had two weeks ago. They all covered their noses as they were ferociously assaulted by the putrid odor drifting off the carcass. The sight of many black flies and white maggots squirming in the flesh did not add to the appeal of the scene.

Turning away from the rotting corpse, Koba signed, "So what are we looking for?"

"We need to find out where this wolf came from," Maurice signed, ignoring the fact that he was referring to a human body when talking about 'this wolf.' "Cornelia, you're the only one of us who came from the wild. What sorts of things should we be looking for?"

"Foot prints, hairs, kills, broken branches. Anything that might indicate the wolf passed by," she signed.

"Foot prints are no use," Rocket signed. "They'd be gone after 2 weeks."

"Then we look for the other signs," Maurice signed.

"It would be best if we split up," Cornelia signed. "That way we can cover more ground."

They all agreed, riding off in different directions. Koba and Rocket stayed on that side of the river, while Maurice and Cornelia crossed to the other side to begin their search. The sun was shining at full force in the midst of the late afternoon, though in the shadow of the redwoods, that wasn't too helpful. Still, every bit of light helped, and whatever stray beams of sunlight found their way unfiltered to the forest floor were extremely helpful. They couldn't ride as fast as they wanted since their searching took them off the beaten paths into more uneven terrain, but the horses still made good time. Koba and Rocket were probably the most skilled trackers due to their participation in many hunts over the last 8 years, and they did indeed find a few signs that the wolf had passed by. The most obvious of which was a deer carcass that seemed about as old as the human they'd found. Cornelia was no slouch in the tracking department either, having learned such necessary skills in the jungles of Gabon. Though she hadn't exercized these survival skills in many years, she found that they came back to her very easily. However, she was having less success.

Maurice was no doubt the weakest tracker of all. He rode slowly through the woods, trying to spot any potential clues. But in the end, the forest just seemed to blend into itself. Maurice was not the dumbest Ape of the clan – far from it in fact. There was a good reason Caesar had made him the teacher of all the Apes' children. But he simply lacked the practical experience necessary to appreciate the subtleties of the forest. He spotted many pieces of broken foliage, but there was no way for him to discern what kind of animals made them. It all just looked like woods to him.

Shaking his head and growling in frustration, he brought his horse to a stand still. He scratched his left cheek flap, thinking intensely. _There has to be an easier way…_

His green eyes lit up. Somewhere inside, the answer just came to him. He had been trying to track a wolf. But maybe it would be smarter to try and track the man. He was much better at picking out signs of recent human presence, if only because stealth and nuance were things humans had no clue of, especially when it came to the outdoors.

He slid off the back of his horse and made contact with the ground. Then he clambered over to the nearest red wood and reached up with both arms, hauling his tremendous weight straight up the trunk. Grasping hold of the bark with both his opposable thumbs and toes, he used his immense strength to pull his 300 pound, bulky body up the side of the tree. He may not have been an expert tracker, but climbing was something he was born good at.

Reaching one of the higher branches, he plopped himself down and peered out over the sea of treetops extending for miles around. He held his hand over his yes, shielding them from the intense rays of the sun. At first, there didn't appear to be any signs of anything. But looking off toward the Southeast, he caught sight of something. A break in the trees, and sitting right in the middle – a human house.

Maurice descended the tree as quickly as his old bones would allow him, and remounted his horse as quickly as possible. He rode out Southeast, trying as hard as possible to maintain a straight line despite the rugged terrain and many trees in the path. Staring straight ahead, he thought he saw it; obscured by many trees and shrubs. He pulled on the horse's reins, slowing its pace to a slow walk. He didn't want to signal his approach on the off chance that the residents were home. It wasn't likely at this point, but fate never punished the cautious.

When he was about 500 feet from the house, he descended his horse, tying it to a nearby tree stump. He made is way toward the house, maintaining as much silence as he could. He could see there was a car parked by the front door; not a good sign for his hopes that the house was abandoned. He tightened his grip on Koba's spear as he pushed on. Then he noticed the door itself, which looked somehow eschew. Curiosity was beginning to outweigh his caution, and he slowly began heading toward the door.

As he got closer he noticed many things. First and foremost – deep gashes made into the wood grain of the door. It looked like someone had taken a knife – or four – and slashed at the wood in an attempt to force their way in. Their efforts must have been rewarded with success, as the door was barely hanging to the hinges. All Maurice had to do to open it was gently nudge it with his finger.

The door swung inward, letting in the light from outside. Otherwise, there was no light, at least none from inside. There were two things that Maurice noticed as he got his first look at the inside of the house. These two things were all he needed to see. They were enough to cause him to go wide eyed, low hoots sounding from his lips. He turned around to face the outside and he let out several loud trumpeting hoots. The calls were amplified by the throat sack hanging low under his chin. This ensured that, even from several miles out, the other three would hear him.

The first things he saw were paw prints; bloody paw prints prowling around the house in a few different directions. They were very large, and were more than a match for the size of the wolf that attacked Caesar. Lying on the floor, surrounded by all the bloody tracks, was a long, robust-looking gun. Several bullet casings lay scattered all around on the floor. Maurice could almost hear the gun shots being fired by a desperate human, screaming for his life with the wolf barreling down on top of him. The shots, the screams, the snarls. They were all so vivid in Maurice's imagination. Even as he tried to get the images out of his head, he could feel his blood chilling to a startling cold. He was frozen at the doorway, not daring to go further inside lest he be attacked by the lingering memory of the horror that took place there.

Maurice was so caught up in the ghost of the event that he didn't even notice the sound of hooves galloping up toward him. Two horses, Koba's and Rocket's, came up to him, their riders dismounting with frantic faces. "What is it?" Koba asked.

Maurice shook his head to bring himself back to the scene around him. He looked down to see he had dropped the spear Koba had lent him. He hadn't even noticed it wasn't in his hand. "I…found something," he signed meekly.

Koba and Rocket could tell that much. They went up to the open doorway, looking past Maurice to what lay inside. The rusty-colored paw prints and the fallen shot gun told their story as quickly to them as they had to Maurice. Rocket let out a few hoots of distress followed by a few whimpers. Koba was less put off by the display of long-past violence. He stepped across the threshold, his own foot coming into contact with one of the tracks. Dropping to all fours, he slowly walked into the house, walking along his knuckles as he peered into every room. Going to the other side of the first room, he grabbed a set of blinds along the windows, letting more light into the room. With more sunlight illuminating the room, it became less foreboding. Rocket could now bring himself to step across the threshold, even if Maurice was still hesitant.

When Cornelia arrived on her horse, Maurice was less entranced. He watched as she rode up to the door and dismounted, sighing, "What did you find?"

Maurice simply gestured to the inside of the house. As Cornelia peeked in, the story was once again instantly conveyed. She whimpered a little and moved closer to Maurice. He reached around to put a hand on her shoulder, as much for his own comfort as for hers. They crossed over together.

Koba was going around to each room, opening more blinds to let in more light. Rocket wasn't looking for anything in particular, and was still quite captivated by the story lost to the old, dusty wooden walls.

Koba opened up another door to another room, but this one gave him cause to stop. He pant-hooted a few times, drawing the others' attention. They rushed over to where he stood at the doorway. Inside, they could all make out the bodies of three humans, two of adult size, one that noticeably, tragically, smaller. Apart from a few rancid fluids, there was nothing left but their skeletons, still dressed in the blood-stained clothing they'd gone to sleep in.

Once again, Maurice, Rocket, and Cornelia all let out loud, vocal signals of their distress. Koba merely snorted and turned his attention to the rest of the house. It didn't take long for the other three to find better things to focus on.

Koba signed to them, "So the wolf was here?"

Maurice nodded, "Definitely. A large wolf was here, broke into the house and killed the humans who lived here. It fits," he signed gravely.

"Let's see what we can find," Cornelia signed, looking through an old dusty bookcase. A lot of the house seemed dusty to Maurice. Judging by the state of the bodies, he'd have guessed that that this house had been ownerless for over a month, at least. There was a fine layer of dust on just about everything. Just about.

Maurice turned a corner to see what looked like a living room. Inside, all around the coffee table, was a backpack, a few books, some folders, and even a pair of clothes. They weren't in the best condition ever, but they did look like they'd been handled more recently, at least compared to everything else in the house. Curious, Maurice walked toward the table.

The first thing he noticed was a map. The title of the map read, "Muir Woods," which Maurice recognized as the humans' name for their home. The map was incredibly detailed, so much so that Maurice thought he could make out the site of their village. Sitting on top of the map was a folder filled with several documents, documents with print too small to be worth reading at this point for Maurice, and next to that were a few books. Maurice picked one up and looked at the title, sounding it out in his head.

_The Secrets of Black Magic_

The title made no sense to Maurice. He had no idea what 'black magic' was, let alone what secrets it may or may not have had. He ran his hand over the cover, feeling age of use along its torn bind. He casually opened it up. To his surprise, the book seemed almost to open by itself; the bind neatly folding as it settled on one point about half way through the book. Once again, one look was all Maurice needed to call out to the others. They rushed into the room, all looking around for anything unusual. Whey they arrived, Maurice turned and held up the page for them to see. Their attention was instantly drawn.

There was an illustration on the lower half of one page, or rather a series of illustrations. The one on the farthest left was of a man. The one on the farthest right was of a wolf. And the four drawings in between showed what could only have been the physical stages of transformation from man into wolf. The three black Apes all started hooting loudly at the sight. There was no doubt – this is what they were looking for.

"You read," Rocket signed. "You're the best reader. Tell us what it says!"

Maurice nodded, setting the book down and starting to read. Although Rocket was correct in his assessment of Maurice's reading comprehension, this book was still a challenge. It was filled with many words that Maurice had never heard of before. Other words he'd heard humans speak but didn't know the sign. With this in mind, he started his translation as best he could.

"The book says that there is a thing, a creature called…," and Maurice had to spell it out for them, "W. E. R. E wolf. A werewolf. A werewolf is a human who will turn into a wolf under the light of a full moon."

"The moon was full on the night of the attack!" Rocket pointed out with a few hollers.

Maurice kept reading. "At first, the victim of this curse will only transform partway, being part human part wolf. The longer they are cursed, the wolf part becomes stronger, until they transform completely into a wolf. When as a wolf, a werewolf can be told apart from a normal wolf in a few ways. It is much larger than a regular wolf, and much more aggressive as well. It singles out humans to attack, though it will attack other prey if there are no other humans around. Once the night of the full moon is over, the wolf will change back into a human, and will remain that way until the next night of the full moon. The curse of the werewolf can be transferred from person to person via a bite or scratch from another werewolf. The wound will heal by sunrise, but by the next full moon, the victim will undergo their first transformation."

All four of their hearts sank as Maurice signed out that part of the text. They were all stunned into silence as the revelation smashed into their minds, accompanied by all sorts of truly dreadful implications. Finally, after stewing in the horror of the reveal, Cornelia frantically signed, "Is there a way to fix it?"

Maurice skimmed ahead, passing over things about history and mythology. Whoever owned the book had made a point of highlighting certain parts of it in red ink. Maurice used these notations as guides for relevance, and he found just what he was looking for in a big red circle scribbled eagerly over the text. "There is only one way to kill a werewolf while in its wolf form. Silver is poison to the werewolf; any weapon fashioned from silver – a bullet, a sword, a knife, any weapon – will be enough to kill the wolf. Any other weapon made from anything else will only wound it, but never kill it. While in human form, the werewolf is as mortal as any human."

Rocket hollered a few times at the sight of that sign. "That's why the wolf didn't die when I stabbed it! The spear wasn't made from silver!"

"So the wolf had the spear impaled through its ribs, and when it changed back into a human…," and Cornelia couldn't bring herself to finish that sign. "But is there anything about a cure?"

Maurice nodded, signing, "There is only one way to cure a werewolf. The werewolf must drink the blood of the werewolf who originally bit him. But both the victim and the original werewolf must be in wolf form in order for it to work. If either is human, then the curse will remain."

There was much snarling and snorting from the two chimps and one bonobo. "How are we supposed to do that!" Koba signed with a snarl. "The werewolf that bit Caesar is already dead!"

"There must be something, some other way!" Cornelia signed, hooting distressfully as she clambered through the other things on the table; the bag, the other books, the folder, the clothes. Maurice caught sight of something that fell from one of the pant's pockets. It was a small brown rectangular object. When Maurice picked it up, he could feel the texture of dried animal hide. He opened up a flap on the object and saw a few different things. There were some green pieces of paper stored in one part, and many pieces of plastic in pouches. One of these had a photo on it. Maurice took it out of the object and held it up close to his eyes. The picture was of a young adult human, one of the pasty, lighter-colored variety. He was smiling, baring his white teeth right at the onlooker, a face Maurice always thought as hostile. But despite the difference in the expression, there was no doubt about it – this was the same man they'd seen lying dead in the forest just a few hours ago. His name, apparently, was Brendan Larsen

Cornelia was still rifling through the assorted junk on the coffee table, looking for any glint of hope for Caesar. When she picked up the manila-colored folder, many pieces of white paper fell out, along with one small piece. Cornelia stopped searching for a moment and picked up the small piece. It was a photograph, showing a rather carefree-looking young adult female human with bright red hair.

Koba caught sight of the photograph and snatched it away from Cornelia. She flared her lips with a hiss at him, but he was too busy. He started panting at the sight of the woman in the photo. "I know this human!" he signed, drawing all eyes to him. "This was the female that Blue Eyes and I saw on our way back from hunting two weeks ago!"

They all tilted their heads at that point, Rocket scratching his bald crown. Looking for more answers, Maurice reached down and picked up the papers that fell on the floor. Despite their small print, they had become worthy of deciphering. As near as Maurice could understand, these were documents telling the reader about the girl in the photo. Her name was Amelia Murphy, and she was 28 years old. She was born in a place called Connecticut, before moving to another place called Texas. And then another place called Nevada. In fact, most of these documents seemed to trace where Amelia Murphy had been over the course of her life. The last document settled on a place name that Maurice actually recognized – California. Still holding the documents in hand, he looked over at the map of the forest spread out on the table. After just a few moments, the pieces were put together in his head, and they fit together so perfectly that Maurice threw up his arms and started hooting at full volume. The three confused ones all turned with questioning looks.

"I finally understand!" he singed in an orange flurry. "Caesar was bitten by this man – this werewolf – named Brendan Larsen. Brendan Larsen had come to our forest looking for this werewolf that bit him, this woman, Amelia Murphy!" he signed, pointing at the photograph still in Koba's hands. "He was hoping to drink her blood to lift the curse! He's been tracking her whereabouts for a while, but when he came here, he wasn't expecting to run into us."

"And we killed him," Koba signed rather blandly, reinforcing the hopelessness of their predicament.

Maurice put up his hand and countered. "Ahh, but there may still be hope! This woman, Amelia Murphy, is still in the forest! Or she was still here at least two weeks ago! We know this because Koba and Blue Eyes saw her! Maybe…if Caesar drinks her blood, he'll return to normal!"

"But the book says it has to be the one that bit him," Rocket signed confusedly.

"Ah, but Amelia Murphy is the werewolf that bit the werewolf that bit Caesar! There is a line connecting them!" Maurice persisted.

"It's our only hope," Cornelia signed with an optimistic whisper.

"Quickly, let's gather all of these things and bring them back to the village. We only have two more weeks until Caesar's first transformation. We have to find Amelia Murphy before then!" Maurice ordered. They all started gathering up the books, the maps, and the documents before exiting the abandoned house and riding back toward the village, carrying the only hope they had of undoing this malevolent curse.


	5. Decisions, decisions

**Sorry for the delay. Life just sort of happened. And then it kept happening. As always, thanks everyone for favoriting, following, and -most of all- reviewing. **

Sunset painted the sky a deep, blood-red, stretching far across the treetops all the way to the dark purple clouds rolling in from the West. The forest was totally blacked out by the vivid scarlet sky. As Caesar stood at the edge of his room, staring out across the world laid bare at his feet, he breathed heavily. The only sound to be heard was the crackling of a few disparate camp fires, and the last vestiges of the past day as Apes went about their evening business. Otherwise it was a quiet night.

Or, it would have been to the other Apes. To Caesar it was actually a very busy night, filled with bustling, vociferous activity. Crickets chirped. Frogs sang. Bats whizzed about, constantly shrieking. The nights had never seemed so noisy as they had these past two weeks. He didn't even know bats made any noise until the night after New Year's. But with the forest night turned into a veritable metropolis of late-night goings on, Caesar wondered how he ever thought of it as a time to rest. It seemed more a time to get out there and run wild, flowing with the teeming energy of the woods.

With a snort and a grunt, Caesar turned away from the sunset and paced around his bedroom on all fours. Walking quadrupedally had always been easier for Caesar's joints and muscles, but it was a posture he didn't often adopt, especially not among other Apes. Having spent the first eight years of his life among obligatorily bipedal humans, he was accustomed to spending most of his time on two legs. Even when with other Apes, the bipedal posture gave him a regal bearing and helped to emphasize his status. But lately he began to better appreciate how easy it was to go about on all four legs. It just started feeling right somehow.

He paced from the overlook to his nest and back again, several more times. He had no idea why he was doing it, and didn't even think to wonder. All of his thoughts were fixated on Maurice, Cornelia, Rocket, and Koba, who had yet to return from their search for more information about this mysterious case with the wolf. Caesar missed a few things from his time with the humans. At that point, the one he missed most was their precise method of keeping time. Seconds, minutes, hours. These units were of little use to the Apes and their life in the redwoods. But as the sun had drifted away toward the farthest horizon, Caesar was anxious to know just how long they'd been gone.

His anxiety was exasperated by his hunger. A faint growl sounded off from his gut, but he ignored it. There had been nothing for him to eat. Due to his own failings as a leader, the hunts had been unsuccessful. There just wasn't any meat for him, though there was more than enough fruit, roots, vegetables, and seeds. But Caesar found that he had little appetite for plant matter these days. On average, plants made up the bulk of the chimpanzee diet; over half in fact. But any time Caesar had thoughts of food, they were always of meat – warm, fresh, red meat. Deer had been his prey of choice most recently, but any meat would do. But there wasn't any, at least none that was available to him.

When the pangs of hunger became too great, Caesar paused and thought for a moment. There might be one place in the tree fort to get some meat. Blue Eyes and Ash liked to go fishing together, and they were quite good at it. It was very rare for there not to be some fish in Blue Eyes' room, even if it was partially eaten. But Caesar's hunger was growing every second. With a shameful sting in his heart, he made his way to the stairs.

But his path down the spiral stairs was blocked, just in front of his son's room by Blue Eyes himself, as well as what appeared to be the female he was grooming on New Year's. Caesar was stopped dead in his tracks, and the other two followed suit. The female stepped behind Blue Eyes, whimpering slightly as Caesar stared at them blankly for several seconds.

Blue Eyes greeted his father with a furrowing of his brow ridges and a curt sign of his hands. "Move!" At first, Caesar was confused. He looked around, only to catch sight of the entrance to Blue Eyes room. He was standing in front of it. "Move!" Blue Eyes signed again, more briskly.

Blue Eyes' insolence was grating. No, it was more than grating. It was irritating. It was infuriating. As the sign was repeated in his mind again and again, Caesar could feel something rising inside of him, causing his blood to shoot through his veins with furious speed, boiling to the point of his anger. How dare Blue Eyes sign at him with those weak, little hands? What made him think he had any right to talk to his father that way? His father, his strong, powerful father. As Caesar looked into that stupid, spoiled face oh his own spawn, he could feel his whole body trembling. His lips curled back, revealing the full extent of his canine teeth. He breathed deeply and quickly in course hisses. As he was standing there, he could swear he heard bees buzzing inside of his head, growing louder as they get closer to his mind.

In a flash, he could see his clenched hands grab at the useless teenager's neck, crashing on top of him as Caesar's entire body hurls itself toward him. Caesar tears into his son's throat with all of his fury, pulling out mouthfuls of bloody chunks of flesh and hair.

In another flash, he was back to standing in front of Blue Eyes and his female friend, who had turned and bolted off in the opposite direction. Blue Eyes turned and called out to her, but she just kept going. When it was clear that she wasn't coming back, Blue Eyes snarled at his father and signed, "What is wrong with you?!"

The question stopped Caesar in his tracks. Breathing shallowly through his nose, he looked down and saw his body all tensed up, fists still balled in apparent rage. The horrific image he'd just witnessed was seared into his memory, repeating itself over in his mind, as vivid as ever. It was like looking at two different versions of his son – one was alive, standing before him, and the other one was lying eviscerated on the ground. His hands began to tremble slightly as he took a step back from the still-living Blue Eyes. And then, in a single motion, he spun around and bounded back up to his room, leaving a Blue Eyes who was just as frustrated as he was confused.

By the time Caesar reached his nest, the sun had disappeared completely behind the distant hills, drowning the land in darkness. But as Caesar peered out past the village to the vanishing tree line, he felt more than the simple arrival of the night. He could see through the fallen veil of shadow to a horrifying new world – the nighttime world. He could feel the darkness rushing inside, mixed in with his blood and sent shooting through his body with every fevered heartbeat. He scrunched his face up, his teeth showing through retracted lips, and he buried his head in his hands. He wheezed with every labored breath as small streams began trickling from his eyes and down his barren cheeks.

He was broken from his trance by a low, quiet grunting from behind him. Wiping the tears away quickly, he turned to face the threshold and found the hopeful sight of Maurice, Cornelia, Koba, and Rocket standing together in front of him. Each one of them had never looked so wonderful before. Maurice, tall and imposing, but with eyes so gentle they couldn't help but betray his vast wisdom and loving heart. Rocket's devotion was unquestioning, and the strength of his loyalty was equaled only by the might of his forearms. Koba, for all his faults had an undying dedication to the other Apes, and a determination to protect them that bordered on psychotic. And Cornelia – precious, beautiful, perfect in every way he could hope. She grounded him against the stresses of leadership, even the stranger ones of late. Her love had never been so important to him as it was right then.

Caesar leaped out of the nest and hopped over to them, standing tall before each one of them. His hopes that they'd been successful were boosted by the several objects that the other Apes were clutching in their hands. "You found something?" he signed excitedly.

The pause was disconcerting, but it did conclude with nodding from the others. But Caesar quickly caught the grim motions as they confirmed his hopes. Maurice took a deep breath in and held it as he signed, "There is….much to discuss. We should probably gather the Ape Council."

Caesar's brow ridges rose curiously at this request. He looked at the other Apes, seeing if they could give him any other clues. They returned his questioning look with three solemn ones. "It's that important?" he asked simply.

Maurice nodded. "_Very_ important."

Caesar gave a single nod and signed, "Very well. Rocket, go get Stone." Rocket followed the instruction with instant immediacy. As Rocket climbed down the spiraling stairs, Blue Eyes caught him as he rushed out toward the Northern border. He had caught sight of the three males and his mother showing up at their home just a few moments earlier. He was not so stupid that he couldn't draw a connection between their sudden appearance, and the strange, almost-frightening display his father had just given.

His usual surly disposition was almost completely replaced with curiosity, albeit a frustrated curiosity. He tentatively stepped out of his room and crept slowly up the stairs to his parents' room. When he moved into view of the other four Apes, they turned to him. There was an awkward pause between them, exasperated by Caesar's obvious refusal to look Blue Eyes in his eponymous feature. Blue Eyes noticed this, and it only added to his frustrated confusion. When none of the adults made a move to communicate, Blue Eyes snorted and pounded the ground with one hand and signed, "What's happening?"

Cornelia walked over to her son and tried to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he jerked back at the moment of contact. She whimpered softly at his refusal and signed. "Son, there is no need to be so upset."

This just caused him to snarl at her, flashing his canine teeth and signing furiously, "I have every reason to be upset! I brought a female home tonight, and when I tried to take her to my room, Father scared her off! He looked like a wild animal ready to attack her!"

Those last few signs caused several reactions from the other Apes. Cornelia whimpered even more, taking a step back from her son. Maurice held his breath as tightly as he could, daring not to even be in that room. Koba just looked down away from the others, snorting quietly in an attempt to distance himself from the others. Caesar maintained his inability to face Blue Eye, the effect of which only grew stronger somehow.

Despite their deeply affected reactions, Blue Eyes persisted. "I want to know what's going on."

Koba sighed deeply, standing up straight and going over to his honorary 'nephew.' "Look, Blue Eyes….your father's not well. We're just trying to help him, that's all."

Blue Eyes was no less determined, but he at least softened his expression from anger so something that almost looked like it could be concern. "But Koba," he signed, "if he's sick, why can't you just tell me what's wrong with him?"

Koba scratched his neck and he thought long and hard to find a good answer. Unfortunately, Blue Eyes' question was better than any answer he could think of. Eventually he settled on signing, "You don't need to worry about it. We'll take care of it."

And Blue Eyes' rage came back with a loud shriek, bared teeth, and a pounding on the ground of the tree house floor. "Stop treating me like I'm some little whiteass! I'm an adult Ape!" and the anger gave way to a pleading sorrow. "You told me so yourself – I'm very wise for my age."

"But Blue Eyes-" Koba began, only to be cut off by –

"No."

Every head in the room turned to Caesar, who had sat up and looked at Blue Eye for the first time since they all arrived. Blue Eyes just looked at his father, unsure of how he should feel about the address. When nothing more was said, Caesar continued with his hands. "Blue Eyes is right. He's a full Ape now. And he's my son. He's earned his place on the Ape Council."

They were all shocked, but none as much as Blue Eyes. His eyes were as wide as they could be, his expression softened to its nicest point in months. Caesar stood up, stepping out of the nest toward Blue Eyes. Snapped out of the shock, Blue Eyes lowered himself to all fours, slowly approaching his father and holding out his right hand palm up. With a truly prideful glint in his eye, Caesar reached out and stroked the open hand with his own. With his father's full approval, Blue Eyes stood up and stepped backward, taking his place in the circle with the others.

Koba stepped back into the circle, sitting next to Blue Eyes' right side. "Welcome," he signed, giving a firm pat on Blue Eyes' back. Cornelia was on his left, and she gently caressed his cheek with her finger, conveying all of her love and pride in a single warm gaze of her green eyes.

Not long after Blue Eye's inception into the council, Rocket returned with Stone, who seemed quite anxious as he saw the rest gathered together, complete with a brand new member. He took a seat next to Maurice, while Rocket placed himself at Caesar's right side.

"Now that we are all here," Maurice began, "we should make sure everybody knows what this is all about. Especially since we have a new member," and he nodded toward Blue Eyes.

Caesar nodded and signed, "You all remember two weeks ago, on the night of New Year's, I was attacked by a wolf. Rocket speared the wolf through the side, and we left it for dead. We returned to the village, and the doctors treated the wound as best they could. Somehow, the wound healed overnight. The doctors had no idea how.

"When Rocket, Maurice, and Koba went to retrieve the spear the next day, they discovered that the wolf was gone, and that a human was lying dead in its place, with the spear sticking through his sides."

Blue Eyes looked around, gauging the responses of the other Apes. They all seemed to understand, at least on some level, what Caesar was talking about, but he was left clueless. Still feeling cautious as the lowest-ranking member of the council, he raised a tentative hand to interject. "Father….what do you mean…exactly?"

Caesar wasn't put off at all by Blue Eye's confusion. Instead, he merely clarified with a sign. "After Rocket speared the wolf, it changed into a human, and died."

"It may sound impossible," Maurice signed, noting Blue Eyes' obvious incredulity. "But we know it to be true. We'll explain more later, but for now, we'll let your father continue," and he nodded back to Caesar.

Caesar took the cue to keep signing. "We had no idea how any of this happened, but we decided to leave the matter alone, and be thankful that everything was alright. Except that it wasn't. Over the last few weeks, I have felt worse. I have dreams where I run through the woods late at night as a wolf. Each night, the dreams get more vivid. And now, I have started to feel different even when awake, like there is something inside me that…" and he stopped just short of signing the horrific image he'd had just moments ago on the stairs of his son's bloodied corpse. "That wants me to do terrible things," is what he eventually settled.

Maurice took over. "And after searching long and hard, we have found the answer." His signing was slow and careful, hands passing over a face ridden with guilt. When he was done signing, he reached into the backpack taken from the house and pulled out the book, opening it up to the relevant section. He handed it over to Caesar, allowing him the chance to look over the text and see for himself what they had learned. "Just as I had originally suspected, the wolf that attacked Caesar was no ordinary wolf. It was a creature called-," and he spelled out the word for them.

When Caesar saw each of those letters signed in front of him, he spoke quietly in a gruff voice, "Werewolf?"

Maurice nodded. "A werewolf is a human who changes into a wolf every time there's a full moon in the sky. If a werewolf bites or scratches someone else, the wound will heal by morning, and that person will also become a werewolf."

At that last sign, Caesar closed his eyes and let out a very deep, very heavy sigh. When his eyes opened, his gaze had fallen to the text where he saw the illustrations of a man transforming into a wolf.

"You don't actually believe this, do you?" Koba signed with a skeptical huff through his pink lips.

"I not only believe it," Caesar began, throwing a deathly serious look toward Koba, "but I have known this to be true for some time, at least somewhat. I can feel the wolf inside of me, trying to fight its way out. I can feel it growing stronger every day, getting angrier every night. I have urges to do absolutely terrible things," and his eyes fell past the book down to the floor, unable to look at any of them, Blue Eyes in particular.

"It may seem impossible," Maurice added, "but then, how do we know what things are possible and which aren't? Worms change into butterflies. Seeds into trees. There are so many things we don't yet understand about the world around us. Perhaps the werewolf is just another mystery. We must all be willing to face the facts, and learn more about what's happening around us." There was a lot of nodding around the circle, and Koba was forced to sit back and proceed with the idea that Caesar had been cursed.

"What more do you know about these creatures?" Stone asked, trusting absolutely the word of the other Apes.

"The only thing that can kill them is a weapon made from silver," Rocket signed. "But only when they are a wolf. When human, they can be killed by any normal way."

"They're bigger than normal wolves. More ferocious too," Cornelia signed.

"So that's what will happen to Father?" Blue Eyes asked. "The next full moon, he'll change into a wolf?"

"Not if we cure him first," Maurice signed.

Caesar shot up straight when he saw that sign, dropping the book to the ground with mouth agape, lips quivering, eyes glistening with excitement. "How!?" he spoke out loud.

"There is only one way to break the werewolf curse," Maurice signed. "You must drink the blood of the werewolf that originally bit you, but both of you must be wolves in order for it to work."

Caesar slumped back down and signed, "Then I am cursed forever. The one that bit me is already dead."

"There may still be hope," Maurice signed, taking out some of the documents he'd picked up at the house. "The werewolf that bit you was this man," he signed, showing Caesar the picture of the man. "His name was Brendan Larsen, and he came to our woods looking for the werewolf that bit him," and he showed the photo of the red-haired woman. "That is this woman, Amelia Murphy. She's the human that Koba and Blue Eyes saw while out two weeks ago."

When Maurice showed the photo to the other Apes, Blue Eyes hooted a few times and signed, "Yes, that's her! That's the one!"

"Our only hope is that she's still in the woods somewhere. Since she's the werewolf that bit the werewolf that bit you, we're hoping that the cure will work the same way," Maurice signed.

"But what if it doesn't?" Koba asked. "What if the blood does nothing? Or, what if she's already gone?"

Caesar nodded. "Koba is right. We must be prepared if this does not work."

There was a distinct, dreadful pause as each of them played out a different series of potential scenarios in which Caesar, somehow, became a wolf, and they were unable to do stop him. As brutal as his speculative carnage was, they were even more reluctant to consider what seemed like the only other option. Finally, Cornelia piped up and signed, "We won't kill you. We can't. Ape not kill Ape."

"But I would not be Ape," Caesar signed. "I would be wolf. An animal. And I would kill Apes."

"But just for the one night," Stone pointed out. "The rest of the month you would be regular Caesar."

"Maybe…," Blue Eyes signed, daring to put forth an idea, "we could build a cage, where Father be a wolf for the night and not hurt anyone!"

Blue Eyes was confident that his idea would be well received considering how logical and practical is seemed. That's why he was curious when the other Apes seemed less enthusiastic about it, cringing at his mention of the word 'cage.'

"We do not cage Apes," Koba signed somewhat blankly. "Only humans cage Apes."

Blue Eyes whimpered a bit, and was prepared to apologize before Caesar interjected. "No! Blue Eyes is right!" Blue Eyes looked back to his father more confused than ever. _Father agreeing with me? He must be _really _unwell. _"If I am in a cage, I cannot harm any Apes." He turned to Koba and signed, "I understand your feelings, Koba. I've lived in a cage too. But this will be my choice – for the good of all Apes."

Koba looked down and nodded, signing, "If you wish. Can we build a cage strong enough to contain the wolf?"

Stone nodded. "Yes, gorillas build it. If we can't break it, nothing can."

Maurice signed, "While Stone and the gorillas prepare the cage, the rest of us should try and track down Amelia Murphy. Hopefully, she's still in the forest, and hasn't wandered too far from where Koba and Blue Eyes first saw her."

The plan was confirmed with a flurry of nodding heads, and low panting. As the Apes all stood up to take their leave, many paused to offer praise to the newest inductee. Stone stood tall on all fours and nodded gruffly, giving out a series of course, low grunts to signify is acceptance. Rocket lightly tapped Blue Eyes by his shoulder, hooting softly through O-shaped lips.

Maurice came up to him and signed, "Koba was right. You do show wisdom for your age," and he grinned at the young chimp. "That was a good plan."

Blue Eyes looked away for a moment before signing, "Hopefully we wont' need it."

Maurice nodded. "Right."

When all the rest had left, only the familial trio was left. Caesar went to his son and signed, "Well done for your first Council meeting. I know you'll continue to do well."

Blue Eyes bowed his head low for solid moment. As Caesar looked at his son showing this kind of respect, he wished he could freeze this single moment forever. Then he could postpone the coming horror. His son could stay like this forever. But he knew that this behavior would probably wear off within the next few days, and Blue Eyes would revert back to his surly, ornery self. It was, however, a step in the right direction, if only a step. Blue Eyes was struggling through his adolescence in a somewhat similar way that Caesar himself had. But if Caesar could help bring his son to bull adulthood, the easier things would be for the both of them.

* * *

Maurice's tree was right next to the village square. Stone nested on the Northern border to be close to the guard. Rocket lived on the next level down from the top of the cliff where the village lay. None of the Council members lived very close to one another. So none of them noticed when Koba slipped away to the stables.

He saddled up his horse and took off through the Southern gate, retracing their steps as best he could. It was very difficult at this point; the sun was long gone and the moon was as new as it ever was. Ordinarily, on a night this dark, Koba would have taken a torch out into the woods, but he was hoping to avoid detection at all costs.

Riding in the darkest night was less than ideal. The horse refused to go very fast for fear of tripping over the uneven, broken terrain. Guiding the horse was just as difficult. There was little either of them could do to help each other. The only useful light came from the brilliant star-scape dazzling up above, filtered considerably through the mid layers.

After a few hours of fruitless searching, and getting lost a couple of times, Koba finally found what he was looking for – the house. He pulled on the reins, bringing the horse to a halt right in front of the door. Knowing what to expect, he carelessly bust through the door. He tried the light switch, not surprised at all when the house stayed dark. He stepped over the abandoned shot gun, his feet connecting with the rust-colored paw prints covering the floor. He made his way to the kitchen, going straight for the lines of drawers sitting under the counter tops. He pulled them out one by one until he found what he was looking for. A the final drawer on the right, there were several silver spoons, forks, and knives aligned all next to each other. Koba grabbed several handfuls of them before turning back and heading out the front door. He held the utensils in his feet as he grabbed the reins to the hose and rode off back toward the village.

**Short chapter I know, but thems the breaks. I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as possible. In the meantime, check out my profile for a teaser chapter of my GIGANTIC epic crossover story. If you like this story, I'm sure you'll enjoy that one as well. **


	6. The Ring

The stream rushed down the rock slope with all the forces of gravity behind it. The trickling sound of water added a nice touch to the surrounding forest ambience, filled as ever with many a distant song bird. A sunny day was masked by the crisscrossing layers of tree branches high above, leaf-covered limbs stretching high into the sun-soaked sky like the hands of hungry beggars. Even at high noon, a green-hued shadow was laid out across the land. Despite the calm veneer, there was much activity to be noticed. A wood frog was caught helplessly in a spider's web, the spider in question waiting patiently for the frog to tire out. A rabbit tended to her numerous new-born offspring. The sound of a woodpecker's foraging rang out, bounding from tree to tree.

And a lone, young female elk stepped to the edge of the stream, and bent her neck down to let the water flow liberally into her mouth. She swallowed as much of the water as quickly as she could. Almost everything about her life had to be lived as quickly as possible. She had to drink fast, eat fast, and – most of all – run fast. There was never any way of knowing just when a predator might set its sights on her.

Her drink was cut off by a noise; a growing noise coming from somewhere up ahead. Her neck sprang up, and she tuned her ears to the coming sound. The ears honed in as best they could, and registered the sound of galloping hooves. It was a sound that she knew all too well these past few years, and it sent her bolting in the opposite direction, bounding over fallen logs and low limbs.

Just as she cleared the scene, four horses galloped right up to the stream, each one of them carrying a single Ape on its back: one female chimpanzee, one female bonobo, and two male orangutans.

"What was it?" one of the orangs asked.

"Nothing much, deer I think," the bonobo signed lazily.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't a human," the chimp signed.

One of the male orangutans snarled and signed, "We've been searching for hours! Still no sign of her."

The chimp turned to him and signed, "Then we keep searching until we do find a sign. Caesar's orders."

The red ape looked away, flaring his lips a bit as he stared at the ground before turning back and signing, "I don't' see why it's so important that we find this human. It's just a lone female. How dangerous can she be?"

"Don't you trust Caesar?" the bonobo asked, tilting her head in a questioning way.

The male huffed in a defensive fashion, signing, "Of course I trust Caesar. I just wish I knew more," and he shrugged.

"She's human," the other orangutan signed. "What more do we need to know?"

"Not all humans are bad," the chimpanzee pointed out, more as a matter of fact than a moral or ethical decision.

"If Caesar thinks this one is, I'm not going to question," the orangutan maintained, even has his exhausted companion rolled his eyes.

"We just have to keep looking," the bonobo said as she turned her gaze to the forest scenery around them. Looking for humans was as easy as it was counterintuitive. Humans didn't need finding – if they were around, everyone in the village new. They were loud, often dressed in brightly colored clothing, with acrid smells blowing off all around them. And at any of these signs, the Apes would take off for the village stronghold. What was far less common was for Apes to actively seek out humans. At the very least, it was an easy endeavor. A simple glance at the surrounding trees would reveal if there were any humans nearby.

As the bonobo scanned the undergrowth, she caught sight of something that made her pull on the reins and bring her horse to a stand still. A few hoots alerted the other to her apparent finding. She dropped down from the horse and brushed away some of the ferns in her way. She reached down and picked up something. The other three couldn't see it at first, but as she held it up, they caught sight of a single brief flash of light that revealed a simple, golden ring.

The other three all hooted loudly at the sight. "Good spot, Jenni!" one of the orangutans signed. She brought it closer for them to see. The ring was very simplistic, with no jewels ornamenting the outer surface. It shone brilliantly under a stray sun beam.

The chimp female quivered her jaw and asked, "What is it?"

"I don't know," Jenni replied, still staring at the ring. "But it was made by a human, that's for sure.

"And I think it belongs to a female," one of the orangutans signed. "Back at the zoo, I always noticed that female humans liked to wear shiny things on their bodies. Males did too, but not as much."

"What should we do now?" the other orangutan asked. "Should we keep looking around here?"

The other male, who had already been exhausted with searching answered, "No, let's go back. We'll get more Apes to search around here."

"You just want to go home," Jenni signed, blowing a raspberry at him.

He huffed a few times but stayed true to his sentiment. "I'm not wrong, though."

In the end, they agreed, and Jenni remounted her horse. An hour's worth of riding later, and they returned to the village, passing through the arch at the Northern border. There weren't as many gorillas hanging out there as there usually were. Once they made it to the village square, they all started shrieking repeatedly, drawing attention from all corners of the village.

Maurice, in the middle of a lecture about rocks to the little ones, stopped abruptly, looking in their direction. He quickly signed to the young Apes, "Since you've all been doing so well with the lessons, I'll end class early for today. Go on and have fun, I'll see you all tomorrow." None of them saw any of his signs after he told them that class was ending early, having erupted in a joyful frenzy of hooting and shrieking.

He wasted no time in hauling his 300 pound body to where the four Apes had ridden up to. Rocket, also drawn to their arrival, galloped up to them and stood up tall, huffing excitedly. "What is it?"

"I found something," Jenni signed, showing them the ring. Both of them examined it intensely.

Maurice gently reached out and plucked it from her fingers. "Where did you find this?"

"In a fern grove, a few miles Northwest from the spot you mentioned," she signed.

Maurice nodded, signing to them, "Well done. Thank you all. You are dismissed for now." At his sign, they all turned and made their way toward the stables. Holding the gold ring in his open palm, Maurice stared at it for a moment, Rocket seemingly dazzled by its sheen. "Our first sign."

"What is it?" Rocket signed, daring to touch it.

"It's called a ring," Maurice signed. "Humans wear them on their fingers to look pretty. Mostly females."

Rocket's mouth hung open as he kept staring at it. "I've only ever spent time with males," he signed, picking up the ring and trying to slide it over his index finger. To his disappointment, the ring would not fit him. "Too small," he singed with a wave of his hand and a course huff.

"We'll have to gather the Apes, send a larger search party out," Maurice said, taking back the ring.

"Can't yet," Rocket signed. "Strongest chimpanzees are all out hunting with Koba."

"And the gorillas?"

"Still building the cage."

Maurice stared at the ring for another few moments before turning his gaze to Caesar's tree fort. He sighed heavily, twiddling the ring in his fingers.

"Should we tell him?" Rocket.

Maurice didn't answer at first, struggling with the question. Finally, he signed, "We should. It would be his first good news in over a week."

"Alright, but…let's go together," Rocket signed wearily.

They turned toward the Tree fort, which seemed dark and gloomy, even in the brightest rays of high noon. As they approached the first step to the stairs, Cornelia was sitting by, snacking on some roots. When she saw them coming, she stood up, a concerned look on her face. She asked, "What's wrong?"

Maurice shook his head and signed, "Nothing wrong. We may have found something."

She cooed softly at that sign, enthusiastically signing, "Oh good. Were you hoping to come up?" They both nodded uneasily. "For you, it'll be okay. Just be careful, and try not to stay too long."

They nodded in agreement, and she led them upstairs. As they passed Blue Eyes room, they saw an extra nest laid out beside his. When they turned the corner to Caesar's chambers, they cautiously peaked inside. The floor was littered with many discarded, bloody bones. Makeshift curtains of animal hide had been hung along all of the windows, casting a shadowy veil over the whole room. They had to wait a moment for their eyes to adjust. When their eyes were ready, they saw Caesar, hunched over in his nest, breathing unevenly and haggardly.

Maurice tried to make a quiet call, but in the stifling silence of the room, it sounded off like a clap of thunder, causing all of them to flinch. Caesar raised his head to look at them, giving them a seemingly-bored expression. He gestured for them to come forward, and they obeyed, taking slow, mindful steps toward their leader.

Cornelia was the first to address him. "How are you holding up?"

He snorted softly and signed, "Still anxious. Still….like, uncomfortable in my own skin. Like I want to rip it off." His expression seemed absolutely tortured as he ran his fingers down his face. "It's only gotten worse. The closer we get to the night of the moon, the worse it feels." Cornelia tried to reach out and give him a comforting pat on the back, but before her hand fell, he jerked back, leaving her with an empty hand and a few distressed whimpers. "What have you found?"

"Jenni found something when she was out patrolling with Rose, Mickey, and Jack," Maurice signed, as he held up the golden ring. Caesar looked at the ring, turning it over in his mind's eye. He slowly reached out and took the ring in his right hand, stroking it repeatedly in his fingers. The gold was quite cool to the touch, and precious to look at. As he stared into it, Caesar made out the vague form of his own reflection. It was at that moment that he looked away from it, back at the others.

"Where was it found?" Caesar asked.

"A few miles Northwest from where Koba and Blue Eyes first saw her," Maurice answered.

"Show me the picture," Caesar signed, pointing to the back containing the items they'd picked up over a week ago. Rocket grabbed the bag and brought it over to Caesar, who nearly tore it from Rocket's hands. Rummaging through the collection of items, he pulled out the folder containing the information on Amelia Murphy. He picked out the photo, only to find that the room was too dark to make anything out for certain. "Light," he hastily signed, not taking his eyes from the picture. Maurice reached out with a long arm and pulled back one of the curtains, exposing just enough light to illuminate the image. Caesar looked as carefully as he could at the photo, trying to discern if the ring was anywhere to be found. In fact, there were a few different rings on her finger, but the image was just too blurry to make anything out for certain. Still, the odds seemed good considering the circumstances.

"Take as many as you can. Search the area until you find her," he signed with full resolution.

"It will have to wait," Rocket signed. "Most Apes are still out with Koba, hunting."

Before a single moment could pass, a bizarre, irrational hatred filled Caesar's mind. He refused to believe that his inferior could dictate their course of action. A loud shriek broke through the room as Caesar reared up on two legs, full fangs bared in terrifying aggression. His rage-filled scream was accompanied by a lighting-fast raising of his arms as a blow was aimed square at Rocket's face. Caesar's balled fist struck Rocket's lower jaw with a startling crunch that sent Rocket's whole head jerking backwards.

Before Caesar could strike another blow, Maurice reached out with incredible speed, a flash of red that grabbed Caesar's wrist before it could come down on Rocket's skull. Caesar's whole body surged in resistance, but even with his furious jerking body, he was no match for the orangutan more than twice his size. When Caesar shrieked in defiance, Maurice curled back his lips, his orange goatee unfurling to reveal huge, yellow teeth that were flashed with an accompanying bellow that resonated from deep within Maurice's gut.

The roar seemed to do the trick. Caesar snapped his head to the side, his eyes returning to their softer state. His body relaxed to near-perfect stillness. He looked around, seeing Cornelia frozen with horror, Rocket massaging a bruised jaw, and Maurice standing over him, his hand gripped tightly around Caesar's wrist. When he saw his own stayed hand, Caesar was flooded with the memory of what he'd just done. Maurice saw this reflected in the green of his eyes, and so relaxed his hold, allowing Caesar his hand back.

"I….am sorry," he said, his voice carrying something desperate in its superficial gruffness. Maurice let out a gentle growl and put his hand on Caesar's shoulder. "The wolf…is very strong now…you should probably go."

They all nodded, and made their way quietly to the exit. Once they reached the bottom floor, Rocket turned to Cornelia and signed, "I see what you mean."

She nodded grimly and signed, "It's painful to watch. It's like he's disappearing, and a new Ape is taking his place." She looked away for a moment before turning back and signing, "But I must be strong. If I give up on him, he'll have no one."

Maurice gave her his warmest, gentlest eyes. "He is fortunate to have a mate as devoted as you."

"What should we do now?" Rocket asked.

"While we wait for Koba's return," Maurice signed, "we should go to the gorillas, see how they're making out."

"You go, I'll stay," Cornelia signed. "I don't want to be too far away."

Maurice bowed his head and signed, "Of course."

As Cornelia maintained her vigil by the foot of the steps to the tree fort, Maurice and Rocket made their way past the fort to a distant, segregated corner of the village. It was the sort of spot that fit neatly within their borders, and yet no Ape ever visited. There was no particular reason for it: there was just always somewhere else they'd rather be. As such, it made the perfect place to build the cage.

When Maurice and Cornelia arrived, there were 5 gorillas on duty, including Stone. All of them were large males, two of which were silverbacks. So far, the cage was constructed out of small tree trunks cut down fresh for the purpose. They had originally considered using fallen logs, but these were determined to be too wet and breakable. The trunks were tied together with rope and were reinforced with boulders placed around the outer edges of the cage. The cage wall was around 20 feet high in total.

When Stone saw them approach, he stopped what he was doing and went over to them, letting out a few course grunts . "Maurice, Rocket – welcome!" he signed

"Good to see you Stone," Maurice signed. "How's the cage coming?"

He nodded enthusiastically and signed, "Very well. It is almost finished. It just needs a little extra reinforcement. Come," he signed, gesturing for them to come closer. He led them around to the edge of cage and to make shift stair case made from big rocks arranged in ascending size. Stepping up to the very top, they all peered down into the interior and saw a very large gorilla, Stone's size or even bigger, with all black hair on his body.

Stone bellowed out to him and signed, "Atlas! Again!"

Atlas nodded and slowly backed up to one corner of the cage. Then, turning to face toward the opposite side, he bolted off in a rapid gallop. With momentum behind him, he leaped out and threw every ounce of body strength he had at the wall. There was a colossal booming sound that rang out from where he struck at the wall, accompanied by a fair few vibrations ringing through Stone's, Maurice's, and Rocket's bodies as they felt the vibrations travel up their bodies from where they were toughing the wall.

"How was that?" Atlas signed, seemingly unfazed.

"Closer," Stone signed. "Still some shaking." Then he turned to the gorillas on the outside and signed, "need more rope and boulders." Then Stone turned back to Maurice and Rocket, keeping his hand away from the sight of the others. "What do you think? Strong enough?"

Rocket answered, "Should be when it's done. These creatures are very strong, but not stronger than the gorillas I think."

"What about the human?" Stone asked.

Maurice shrugged. "Haven't found her yet. But one of the search parties did return with something. A human object. It's not much, but it is our first sign."

"We're waiting for Koba to return with the others out hunting. Then we'll send a large search party out," Rocket signed.

Stone nodded and signed, "Let me know when you're ready. I'll send some of the gorillas out with you."

Maurice uttered a soft growl in appreciation. "Thank you, Stone."

The moment was interrupted by a mixture of sounds from the other side of the village. Pounding hooves were joined by many whoops and hollers. Maurice and Rocket didn't even say anything to Stone as they bounded away toward the source of the noise. Turning a corner, they caught site of Koba on horseback, hooting loudly as he led a full hunting party through the arch leading to the village square. The Apes who had just arrived seemed just as excited as those who stayed behind. Toward the back of the great Ape procession, an adult male elk carcass was spread out over a stretch bed, being hauled in by some of the other Apes.

Koba dismounted his horse, accepting praise from some of the other Apes that came by to inspect their bounty. He raised his arms up high, spear in hand, pant hooting loudly. His open-mouthed, toothy grin was worn unashamedly all over his face, obscuring his scars if only for that moment. His excitement spread to the other Apes, who also thrilled in the success of the hunt.

As Maurice and Rocket arrived on the scene, Cornelia appeared there too, drawn to the commotion. When Koba was done reveling in his received praise, he approached the three of them. "Another successful hunt!" he signed to them, grinning in a way that revealed the tips of his canine teeth.

Maurice nodded. "So I see," he signed. "Well done."

Without truly acknowledging Maurice's praise, Koba continued. "We should be all caught up now from last week's failings." When he signed that last word, he noticed a lowering of Rocket's brow ridges accompanied by a snort or two. Koba put up his hands quickly and added, "Not that it was Caesar's fault. But we've finally got enough meat." This seemed to appease Rocket, who lightened up a little, though he was still just a little tense. Then Koba went on. "Now if you'll excuse me, I was planning to meet up with Trish. You know Trish, right? Jill's daughter?"

"I know her," Rocket signed very stiffly.

"We were planning on grooming after I got back, so I'm going to-,"

But Maurice interjected. "It will have to wait. We've found a sign of Amelia Murphy. We need to take the hunting party back out to look for her."

At first, Koba just stood there and stared at Maurice. There was no clear intention behind his expression – just the meeting of their eyes. Koba's jaw just hung there as his chest heaved calmly up and down. Then he signed, "Alright then, guess we should probably get everyone back together. Where are we headed?"

"A few miles Northwest," Rocket signed. "Jenni, Rose, Mickey, and Jack found it."

Koba nodded slowly. "Okay then, let's get started." Then he turned back to the Apes that were dismounting their horses, or getting ready to head back to their homes. They all looked at him confusedly. "We found a sign of the human Caesar warned us about. Need you all to help us search for her." There were a few obvious signs of reluctance from the exhausted Apes, but they did eventually follow Koba's directive.

It took a little while to fully organize the search party. Maurice and Rocket had to fetch their horses. The four Apes who found the ring had to be found and brought to the front of the line so they could lead the way. True to his word, Stone sent 12 gorillas to join in the search. Once they were all saddled up, they all rode off through the Northern gate.

Jenni, Rose, Mickey, and Jack lead them off the sparse roads they'd made over the last few years and into the thick of the woods. They had to carefully and slowly herd their steeds between the fattened redwood trunks sprouting up from the ground at every angle. The Apes on foot crowded together in the underbrush. Every so often a whoop or holler would sound out from the front, as if to remind those at the back that they had not been forgotten.

Eventually, Jenni held up her hand, triggering a similar gesture from the surrounding Apes. The effect was an immediate halting of the party. Jenni turned to Koba and signed. "This is where I found the human thing."

Koba nodded, and then he stood up on his horse's back. The horse didn't appreciate this, as it let out a low whinny and jostled a little on its legs. But Koba didn't stay that way for long – he leaped onto a nearby redwood, digging into the bark with his fingers and toes. Hauling himself straight up the vertical surface, he reached a point where all the other Apes could see him. Taking a deep breath, he bellowed out to them. "Go! Find human female! Back here by sunset!"

The dispersal of Apes was slow but immediate. They all broke off into smaller groups, mostly consisting of conspecific friends or relatives. Blue Eyes, Ash, and many of the adolescent Apes stuck to Koba, while Maurice stayed with Rocket.

Looking over his shoulder, Maurice made sure that Koba was far enough away so that he wouldn't catch any signs from the orangutan's hands. When he was sure, he crept close to Rocket and signed. "You notice something…off about Koba?"

Rocket, also making sure that no other Apes were eavesdropping, snorted and signed hard with his hands, "Do not like how he has been acting!" His frustration was evident in how he moved his hands. "Does not seem worried about Caesar."

Maurice nodded slowly, low breathes escaping like hot vapor from his nostrils. "I agree. He enjoys being leader. I…I do wonder if he actually wants Caesar to get better."

Rocket turned his head aside, whimpering a little bit before signing. "He wouldn't be that bad…would he?"

Maurice brushed away a large fern, but upon seeing nothing, he answered Rocket. "I certainly hope not, but….I'm not sure. Ever since Caesar put him in charge, things have been very good for him. The other Apes like him, and he even gets to be with the females…" Maurice paused as if wondering if he should say something more, but he shook it off and continued on, "If Caesar gets better, then he'll go back to where he was before. It's not hard to see why he might want things to stay this way."

Rocket shook his head with a snarl. "Caesar should have made me leader!"

Maurice nodded and signed, "Probably. You are definitely one of the most loyal. But remember Rocket – for all of his strength, Caesar is just an Ape. Like you, like me. And even he can make mistakes."

"Koba always seemed like a good Ape," Rocket signed. "Brave, and strong."

Maurice let out a very low sigh, which came out like a low growl. "I have always been….wary of Koba. Do you remember the first few days after we escaped to the forest?" Rocket nodded. "I remember talking with him briefly at one point. This was before all the Apes had learned Sign. For some reason, he didn't think that the Apes who couldn't sign were even Apes. He thought they were 'black, fuzzy worms.' And of course, he was filled with hatred and anger toward humans. But that's not new.

"Somewhere deep inside of Koba, there is a rage. A fury. A hatred not just of humans….but also of himself, at least a little. He hates what the humans have made him into, and it keeps him from feeling like a true Ape. And it hasn't gone away. All of those horrible feelings are still there, inside him. One day…maybe even one day soon…they'll find a way out. Nothing scares me more than the thought of that day, not even the werewolf."

Rocket didn't look like he understood entirely, but he did take away that Koba being in charge wasn't a good thing. It was something he knew all along, but it was nice to see someone else thought the same thing. And Maurice was smart, so Rocket felt even stronger in his conviction. "I just hope that we find this human soon. I hope that Caesar gets better, so Koba won't be leader anymore."

"I hope so too," Maurice signed, a single thought flashing at the back of his mind for the briefest moment. _I hope it will be that easy…_

The shadow of the trees began to lengthen as the sun passed ever farther into the west. Even after a few hours of rigorous searching, there didn't appear to be any sign of anything even remotely human. At least, not until the 4th hour in. All heads turned toward the North at the sound of a high pitched scream, clearly coming from a chimpanzee. In an instant, the Ape horde began converging on the source of the noise until a wall of hairy bodies had formed around it. Maurice and Rocket used their status as well as their arms to push through the horde, not stopping until they reached the screeching chimp in question

It was a lone female called Abby, who was about Blue Eye's age. She pointed forward and they saw what it was she'd found. In a small clearing of the forest, there was a single tent set up in front of a drowned campfire. A few pieces of trash were scattered carelessly around the sight. A line stretched from one redwood to another, dirty clothes hanging delicately from it. Muddy foot prints dotted around the campsite made it clear that the camper had been there recently.

As Maurice and Rocket stood in front of the human camp, they turned to their right to see Koba push his way past more Apes. Upon setting his eyes on the camp, his lips retracted in a wide, toothy grin.


End file.
